Archie Goodburn has called on British Prime Minister Andy Burnham to increase funding and resources for brain cancer research.
The Scot revealed in June 2024 that he had three inoperable brain tumours and had been diagnosed with oligodendroglioma, “an extremely rare form of incurable, diffuse and progressive brain cancer.”
The Team Scotland swimmer was seventh in the 50m breaststroke at the recent Commonwealth Games in Glasgow after which he said: “One of my dreams is that we see a future where brain cancer isn’t the biggest killer of patients under 40.”
Appearing on BBC Breakfast, he made a direct appeal to the Prime Minister, saying: “Andy Burnham, if you believe and want to make a change and a difference to the future of our country and our young population, please listen to us.
“Please establish a national brain cancer lead and give us a chance to fight for our lives because the things that patients are going through out there are unbelievable and so unjust. There are clinical trials around the world, in the US, in Australia, in China, that could change lives. We are not seeing them in the UK and it is unfair and unjust.
“Please invest and make the difference. I’m on my knees begging for – not just my own life – but for those of my best friends and those that are affected and the families around the country. This has to change. It’s been going for too long and the suffering is unbearable.”
