A house raffle to pay for brain tumour treatment
When my partner Gary first came up with the idea, I thought it was ridiculous!
Claire
Beauty therapist and mum of two, Claire Nutter, 48, from Burnley is selling £5 tickets to a house raffle offering the chance to win her £800,000 home, or a share of the lump sum raised.
Claire’s hoping to fund specialist surgery and therapy in Germany after her treatment on the NHS came to an end. It’s expected to cost about £350,000.
Claire said: “When my partner Gary first came up with the idea to raffle the house I think I laughed! I thought it was ridiculous.
“I don’t want to move. I’ve lived here for 21 years. But the cost of the treatment I’m researching is absolutely astronomical and out of reach otherwise.
“If we don’t sell enough tickets to give the house away, people get a cash alternative. The more I thought about it, the more I thought it was a pretty good idea.”
Unlocking Innovation for Brain Tumours in the UK – our new report
The financial dilemma facing Claire and other families is highlighted in our new report ‘Unlocking Innovation for Brain Tumours in the UK’.
It says limited access to new treatments and clinical trials, and slow research pipelines are pushing patients to take financial risks to fund – sometimes unproven – therapies that they’ve discovered online or by word of mouth.
These include selling or remortgaging their homes, or crowdfunding to pay for treatment abroad which in some cases may not have been assessed through the same rigorous clinical trials and processes that underpin NHS care.
Life-changing diagnosis
Claire learned she had an oligodendroglioma brain tumour in July 2023, after experiencing spells of sickness and extreme dizziness.
She went to the doctor several times to try and find out what was wrong, and her symptoms were initially thought to be related to menopause, or high blood pressure.
Three operations followed, but surgeons were only able to remove half of the tumour. Chemotherapy proved unsuccessful, whilst radiotherapy was deemed too risky due to potential side effects.
With no additional treatment options available through the NHS, Claire and partner Gary began looking for alternatives, including private care overseas.
“Nine months of chemotherapy was tough, and it was very disappointing to find out it hadn’t worked,” Claire said. “Then to be told there weren’t any more treatments I could try was upsetting to say the least. I do feel lucky to have had the treatments I’ve had but also a huge part of me is upset that this is happening to me. It’s frustrating to know that there are treatments available in other countries which we don’t have in the UK.”
Counting the cost of alternative treatments
“We’re looking into other options because we don’t want to just give up. You’ve got to try things.
“We feel it’s really important to keep fighting and remain positive as we really believe that helps in some strange way. My type of tumour continuously grows and can have the tendency to become more aggressive so I’m currently being monitored by having three monthly scans and oncology appointments.
“Gary has been amazing. He’s researched everything and watched more podcasts than you think of! The clinic we found in Germany can offer more treatments which will hopefully help reduce my tumour. One of these is a vaccine that they make out of my actual tumour cells, but it comes at a cost.
“I’ve been quoted £100,000 for a type of immunotherapy and £250,000 for the vaccine that they administer at the same time.
“I’d feel more comfortable if I could have these treatments in the UK and I also think it’d mean that it would be less expensive in the long run as you wouldn’t have the same travel costs.”
A fundraising page to support Claire’s treatment has already raised nearly £25k.
Read the report
We’ve put together a report that highlights the current barriers to innovation and our recommendations for how to overcome these.
Through progress, we can make sure that people affected by brain tumours get kinder treatments and improved quality of life.