Widower donates Sunderland wife's pension to Brain Tumour Research to help fund research into the disease that killed her

Sunderland born, Judith Todd sadly died aged 61 at her home in Norwich, Norfolk, on December, 22 2020, more than four years after being diagnosed with a glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) – a type of brain tumour.

The retired maths teacher, who taught at Norwich High School for Girls for 15 years, had suffered persistent headaches leading up to her brain tumour diagnosis and underwent three debulking operations, as well as chemotherapy and radiotherapy treatment.

Sadly, the mother-of-three suffered a stroke during her last surgery on Valentine’s Day in 2020 which left her paralysed down her left-hand side and, due to COVID-19 restrictions, was forced to spend much of her three-month recovery in medical facilities alone.

After returning home, Judith spent seven months with her husband of 39 years, David before she passed away.

David, 63, has now donated £18,000 of his wife’s remaining pension to Brain Tumour Research as well as thousands of pounds more from contributions made at her funeral and his involvement in the charity’s Walk of Hope in September.

He said: “Judith had a teacher’s pension which she took at the age 60 but was only in receipt of for about 18 months before she died.

"Luckily I’m retired, I’ve got a good pension and don’t need the money, so I thought giving it to Brain Tumour Research would be a better use of it.

"I was attracted to the research element of the charity because of Judith’s scientific background and I think knowing it’s not one of the bigger cancer charities appealed because I know how underfunded brain tumour research is.”

Charlie Allsebrook, community development manager for Brain Tumour Research, added: “It costs £2,740 to fund a single day of research at any one of our four Centres of Excellence so David’s very generous donation will be of great help to us as we continue to fund vital research into brain tumours.

"It is with the support of people like him that we will be able to prevent more families from being torn apart by this devastating disease, which is indiscriminate and can affect anyone at any time. We’re enormously grateful to him.”

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