Cost of living when you have a brain tumour

Aim

Brain tumours are devastating. The financial impact is horrendous. We provide patient grants to help those in hardship when they need us.

Help us support patients and their families

A brain tumour diagnosis can turn lives upside down. On top of the emotional and physical upheaval, many people struggle financially as a result of their treatment, and the cost of living crisis has hit cancer patients particularly hard.

We are Yorkshire’s Brain Tumour Charity, a registered charity dedicated to supporting patients and their loved ones, while funding research across Yorkshire to find better treatments and ultimately a cure.

Around 15 people every week are diagnosed with a brain tumour in Yorkshire. We want to make sure that everyone impacted by a brain tumour has access to the financial, emotional and practical support they need.

This Winter, we are asking for your donations to help us continue funding emergency grants for patients who are struggling financially as a result of their diagnosis.

One patient told us: “I would like to thank you all for the support grant, I am very grateful and it is a big help at a difficult time. I very much appreciate the help the charity has provided me, both the grant and the counselling sessions.”

The financial impact of a brain tumour

This year has been difficult for everybody, but especially for patients going through treatment.

According to research by Young Lives vs Cancer, families impacted by cancer spend an average of £600 extra per month as a result of their diagnosis. With inflation continuing to rise, this cost is set only to increase.

A brain tumour has a huge financial impact on families. Many patients are forced to stop working after their operation, making it harder to pay the bills. On top of this, brain tumour patients may be on steroids which make them need to eat more food; their chemotherapy may make them feel cold and need extra heating; and they may need to travel long distances for hospital appointments. 

Brain tumours can also impact mobility, meaning families may need to add new expensive equipment and adaptations to their homes.

Jennifer*, mum of 2-year-old Maisie*, who has a brain tumour, said: “YBTC were kind enough to offer us a grant upon leaving the hospital to cover any travel expenses and to help towards the loss of work over the course of our stay in hospital. They have also been in touch offering mental health support and a further financial bursary which we couldn’t be more appreciative of.”

A worrying time

In 2022 more patients have come to us who are struggling financially than ever before.

• So far in 2022 we have offered £62,450 in grants to patients impacted by a brain tumour diagnosis (compared with £43,103 throughout the whole of 2021)
• 64% of those grants (worth £39,775) were requested to help with paying bills and the cost of travelling for treatment.
• 16% of all the grants we offered (worth £9,850) were given to parents who were struggling with the financial impact of supporting their child through treatment.
• Almost all of the patients who sent us an application mentioned that they had had to stop working or reduce their hours at work, and had been struggling to cover the cost of energy bills as a result.

One carer told us: “Thank you for the grant for our daughter, we really appreciate it. It is really tough and this helps us out.”

How we can help

Here at YBTC we offer emergency financial grants of up to £500 to patients diagnosed with a primary brain tumour across Yorkshire. 

Our grants can be used to help with household bills, improve wellbeing, install specialist equipment or fulfil a special wish.

We also offer special one-off “Bridging Grants” of up to £200 to help parents of children waiting for a diagnosis or receiving treatment.

Our grants are paid straight into the patient’s bank account within 10 working days.

The difference our grants can make

Tom’s* mum told us: “Because Tom* was having seizures, we were too afraid to let him go anywhere by himself. I was sleeping on the settee, and we had a motion sensor camera in his room. I hardly slept for months. But YBTC gave him the funds to buy a seizure alert bracelet, and he started to get a bit of independence back. It brought us both comfort, knowing if he had a seizure, it’d tell us exactly where he was so we could get help to him.”

Many of our grants are used to help with household bills and the extra costs associated with travelling to and from hospital.

Other grants have been used to adapt homes with ramps and lifts for patients with reduced mobility, and to create memories for patients in palliative care and their families.

One carer told us: “A massive thank you for giving us the grant for a ramp which was delivered last week. It has been invaluable and given my husband more confidence to venture out.”

Help us to continue our services

Now is a very worrying time for us as a charity, with our income currently 48% down on what we would expect for this time of year.

While donations have been declining, our costs have kept going up. In May this year, despite using 7% less electricity than the same month in 2021, our bills went up by a staggering 140%.

The rise in the price of running our offices, charity shops and therapy rooms means we are struggling to keep up with demand for our support, which has increased by over 260% in the last two years. 

How your donations can help us

To avoid having to cut back our services, we are asking for your support. We want to raise £1,000 this winter, to ensure that next year we can still offer financial, emotional and practical support for the patients and family members who need us.

Your donation, large or small, could go towards a financial grant to help a brain tumour patient afford their food and energy bills, install a ramp or lift in their home, or go on a special holiday to make memories.

Please help us to make sure we can be here to offer anyone affected by a brain tumour the best support possible. 

*names have been changed

This project successfully funded on 8th March 2023