COLLECTIONS at a York theatrical event this month will support research into new cancer treatment.

Keith and Brenda Waller from Hutton Rudby, have organised group trips to York’s Grand Opera House for years, and have set up the fundraiser at Evita later this month for their daughter Elizabeth.

Elizabeth was diagnosed with a brain tumour in 2010 following a seizure, and given six to ten years to live. Now, after chemotherapy, her tumour is in remission, but she still describes it as “a timebomb”, and hopes the fundraising can help other people in the future.

Elizabeth is now 42 and lives and works in Bromley, had a CT scan after suffering from visual problems then suffering a seizure at home, which was how the tumour was spotted.

She said: “It’s a diffuse grade two brain tumour. They become highly malignant, always progress, never stay at that level, so it’s considered to be a timebomb.

“The surprising thing for me was the lack of treatment options available and what is available isn’t that effective. For this type of brain tumour, it’s not going to cure me or keep it as is and allow me to live as normal, it just buys me some time.”

Elizabeth said it was upsetting to think that she and her husband Roberto would not share a retirement or long-term future together, and “it’s so frightening to hear you’re going to die in a matter of years when you’re so young.”

About 470 people are diagnosed with cancer of the brain and other parts of the central nervous system in Yorkshire and the Humber each year, including about 80 people under the age of 40.

Keith and Brenda have set up bucket collections with the Grand Opera House during the theatre’s run of Evita, from Tuesday, March 28, to Saturday, April 1, to help fund a new project at the Institute of Cancer Research (ICR).

The project will look at characteristics shared by different types of cancer, to help develop treatments to more effectively target a wider range of cancers.

Elizabeth said her “heartfelt thanks” go out to the Grand Opera House for its support, and to her parents and anyone who donates during the show.

She said: “My parents they are spending a lot of their time fundraising.”