Daughter marks mum’s untimely death with marathon challenge

The daughter of a woman who died months after being diagnosed with brain cancer is marking the anniversary of her death with a running challenge. Amelia Bronger, 26, of Oxfordshire is taking on the Brighton Half Marathon on 25 February in aid of Brain Tumour Research.

Her challenge marks a decade since her mum Colleen Hopwood died of a glioblastoma (GBM) just six months after she was diagnosed.

Amelia said: “Training for a half marathon is tough but it’s nothing compared to what my mum went through with her brain cancer.”

Colleen underwent a craniotomy followed by radiotherapy and chemotherapy, which had to be abandoned due to gruelling side effects. She died aged 46 in January 2014 leaving behind only-child, Amelia who was just 16 at the time.

Civil servant, Amelia, said: “Mum experienced an inventory of symptoms including migraines, and a period of blacking out which we later found out were seizures. One time she was driving on the motorway and passed out for seconds which we thought was tiredness. The cancer impacted Mum’s memory too. Before the operation she didn’t know who I was but as soon as she had surgery she was her old self and was my mum again.”

She added: “Treatment kept Mum stable, but the doctor told us the cancer was still growing. By this point, Mum was vomiting daily and very poorly and she made the decision to stop treatment and from there she deteriorated rapidly.”

Previously she has organised a concert and sponsored twilight run to raise money for charity with her mum waiting for her at the finish line. This year, Amelia is upping the ante to run a half marathon.

Amelia said: “I want people to recognise the historic and ongoing underfunding of research into brain tumours. I’ve seen what happens when cancer affects your brain, and you can lose so much of a person. It’s relentless and debilitating.

“Ten years without a loved one, especially your mum is hard. She was the most supportive person and would be incredibly proud of my half marathon if she were here. My hope is that raising the profile of brain cancer will help researchers find kinder treatments and ultimately a cure to save the lives so other children don’t have to grow up without a mum.”

Ton donate to Brain Tumour Research via Amelia’s challenge please visit https://www.justgiving.com/page/amelia-brighton-half