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HeadSmart Campaign - a success story...

Posted by Georgina Wilson on 27th May 2014

A message from Nigel Gliksten - Vice President & former Chairman of The October Club.

"I was recently invited to attend the Brain Tumour Charity's 'Celebrating the Future Reception' held at the Houses of Parliament.  The reception was the culmination of a two day International Symposium where over 50 pre-eminent researchers and thought leaders, from the UK and internationally, joined to explore how they could have the biggest impact on increasing survival rates whilst improving quality of lives amongst patients with brain tumours in the shortest time possible.

The HeadSmart campaign, which The October Club funded, remains at the heart of their awareness campaign and continues to drive diagnosis times down.  I heard, first hand, a story of a mother who had refused to accept her GP's virus diagnosis of her son's ills, demanding an MRI scan on the basis of the information she had read on a HeadSmart card.  The scan revealed a tumour which was subsequently treated and the young man in question has recovered fully.

Sarah Lindsell, their chief executive, revealed to me that they will be approaching £6m of income this year, a quantum higher than when they were The October Clubs 2011 charity.  The key note speech revealed that they are leading a £13m collective investment into brain tumour research. The best was kept for last as the speeches were concluded by Hannah Jones, the same inimitable young lady who spoke on 12th October 2011 and made such an impact on our members.

The October Club was commended in connection with our fundraising for HeadSmart and we can feel very proud of what we achieved in supporting such a successful campaign.  While we may not be able to take all the credit for the fact that the charity has gone from strength to strength we have certainly played an important role in their transformation. 

All in all, a brilliant success story."

To find out more about the HeadSmart Campaign please visit the website