{"id":553585,"date":"2026-07-17T00:44:20","date_gmt":"2026-07-17T00:44:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/553585\/"},"modified":"2026-07-17T00:44:20","modified_gmt":"2026-07-17T00:44:20","slug":"woman-sells-house-to-fund-fight-against-aggressive-brain-cancer-the-irish-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/553585\/","title":{"rendered":"Woman sells house to fund fight against aggressive brain cancer \u2013 The Irish News"},"content":{"rendered":"

A woman with an aggressive form of brain cancer has told how she chose to sell her house to pay for potentially life-extending treatment that is not available on the NHS.<\/p>\n

Jo Fuller, 51, said it was one of the \u201chardest decisions\u201d she had ever made, but was her only hope of accessing treatment that may give her more time.<\/p>\n

The charity Brain Tumour Research is now urging the Government to invest in research and expand access to clinical trials so \u201cpatients are not faced with these difficult and costly decisions\u201d.<\/p>\n

Mrs Fuller, a dyslexia specialist from East Leake in Nottinghamshire, was diagnosed with glioblastoma while on holiday in Australia almost two years ago.<\/p>\n

\"MPs<\/a>\"British<\/a>\"JoJo Fuller has spoken out about how she made the decision to sell her house to fund her battle against an aggressive form of brain cancer. The dyslexia specialist from Nottinghamshire, who is 51, opted to have hyperthermia alongside chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Hyperthermia heats tumour tissue to make it more vulnerable to other therapies but is not routinely funded on the NHS and is considered experimental for brain tumours <\/p>\n

After standard treatments did not work, she opted to sell her house to continue accessing specialist care.<\/p>\n

She has funded hyperthermia treatment, which heats tumour tissues to between 42C and 43C, alongside regular consultations with an alternative oncologist, repurposed medication and nutritional supplements.<\/p>\n

Hyperthermia is used alongside radiotherapy and chemotherapy to make cancer cells more vulnerable to other therapies.<\/p>\n

The treatment is not routinely funded or widely available on the NHS \u2013\u00a0it is only used by specialist teams for certain cancers, such as a specific type of bladder cancer.<\/p>\n

Its use to treat brain tumours is largely experimental, but can be accessed through trials or private clinics.<\/p>\n

\"JoJo Fuller has spoken out about how she made the decision to sell her house to fund her battle against an aggressive form of brain cancer. The dyslexia specialist from Nottinghamshire, who is 51, opted to have hyperthermia alongside chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Hyperthermia heats tumour tissue to make it more vulnerable to other therapies but is not routinely funded on the NHS and is considered experimental for brain tumours <\/p>\n

Mrs Fuller said: \u201cSelling my house was one of the hardest decisions I\u2019ve ever made, but it became my only way of accessing treatments that might give me more time.<\/p>\n

\u201cI never imagined I\u2019d have to sell my home simply to keep fighting for my life.\u201d<\/p>\n

In December 2024, Mrs Fuller had travelled to Australia with her husband Wayne to spend Christmas with his family.<\/p>\n

The couple were planning to move to the country for two years and said it felt like their future was \u201cfalling into place\u201d.<\/p>\n

However, she collapsed on Boxing Day.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019d been shopping for a family barbecue before relaxing outside overlooking the sea,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe next thing I remember was waking up on the dining room floor surrounded by paramedics. I had no idea I\u2019d suffered a seizure and stopped breathing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mrs Fuller was diagnosed with glioblastoma and had brain surgery in Australia.<\/p>\n

She described the experience as \u201cterrifying\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"JoJo Fuller has spoken out about how she made the decision to sell her house to fund her battle against an aggressive form of brain cancer. The dyslexia specialist from Nottinghamshire, who is 51, opted to have hyperthermia alongside chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Hyperthermia heats tumour tissue to make it more vulnerable to other therapies but is not routinely funded on the NHS and is considered experimental for brain tumours <\/p>\n

Mrs Fuller returned to the UK three and a half months later to have radiotherapy and chemotherapy.<\/p>\n

The couple also brought forward their planned handfasting \u2013 a symbolic marriage ritual \u2013 after being told not to delay important milestones.<\/p>\n

Mrs Fuller\u2019s first post-treatment scan showed the tumour had continued to grow aggressively and spread across her brain.<\/p>\n

She is no longer having hyperthermia treatment while she is off chemotherapy but continues to pay for three-monthly consultations, repurposed medication and supplements, which cost hundreds of pounds each month.<\/p>\n

Mrs Fuller has also put funds to one side in case future scans show her tumour has grown.<\/p>\n

In that case, she hopes to pursue IOZK immunotherapy treatment in Germany, which is not licensed in the UK.<\/p>\n

She said: \u201cI\u2019ve always told myself I\u2019ll be part of the 1% of long-term survivors.<\/p>\n

\u201cI refuse to let glioblastoma decide my future, but there desperately needs to be more research so families like mine have better treatment options and more hope.\u201d<\/p>\n

About 3,200 people each year are diagnosed with glioblastoma, with a third surviving beyond a year.<\/p>\n

Just 4% of patients survive behind five years.<\/p>\n

Dr Karen Noble, director of research, policy and innovation at Brain Tumour Research, said: \u201cJo\u2019s story reflects the devastating reality faced by so many patients and families across the UK.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith few options, some patients turn to treatments abroad, often unavailable in the UK and without any guarantee of better outcomes or improved quality of life, raising substantial funds to cover these costs.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe urgently need Government to increase the national investment in research and expand access to innovative trials here in the UK so patients are not faced with these difficult and costly decisions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mrs Fuller said: \u201cI may not be able to change my own diagnosis, but I hope that by sharing my story I can help raise awareness of glioblastoma and the urgent need for more research.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo one should have to sell their home to access treatments that might prolong their life, and no family should feel as though there are no more options simply because research hasn\u2019t progressed quickly enough.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope that one day, people diagnosed with this disease will have far more hope than I was given, and that\u2019s why I\u2019ll keep telling my story.\u201d<\/p>\n

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: \u201cOur deepest sympathies are with Jo Fuller, and everyone impacted by glioblastoma and other brain tumours.<\/p>\n

\u201cImproving cancer research and care is a priority for this government. That\u2019s why, as part of our National Cancer Plan, we will bring the latest scientific breakthroughs into the NHS faster so that patients can benefit from earlier diagnosis and more effective treatment to live well for longer.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile we know there is more to do, through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), we are also supporting groundbreaking trials to transform outcomes for people living with brain tumours, and their families.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A woman with an aggressive form of brain cancer has told how she chose to sell her house…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":553586,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[95937,258,43252,8887,103,61,60,234160,34939,1577],"class_list":["post-553585","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-brain-tumour-research","tag-cancer","tag-east-midlands","tag-glioblastoma","tag-health","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-nihr","tag-pa-exclusive","tag-uk"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/553585","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=553585"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/553585\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/553586"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=553585"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=553585"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=553585"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}