Oscar's Paediatric Brain Tumour Charity

Ongoing Support, Care, Awareness and Research

support and care icon
Support and Care

for children facing brain tumours and their families.
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raise awareness icon
Raise Awareness

of the signs and symptoms of brain tumours in children.
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fund new research icon
Fund Research

to find better and kinder treatments improving life outcomes.
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Award
How we help?

Ongoing Support, Care, Awareness and Research

OSCAR’s Paediatric Brain Tumour Charity exists to support and care for children facing brain tumours and their families, to raise awareness of children’s brain tumours and to fund new research to drive down diagnosis time, increase survival rate and improve children’s quality of life during and after treatment.

It was set up in memory of nine-year-old Oscar Hughes from York but exists to serve any child, anywhere in the country having to deal with life with a brain tumour.

We do what we can because we want to make a difference: we don’t want any more children to go through what Oscar went through.

families

We Are Here To Support You

Our charity was started by a family and it is important to us that families are supported. Whether your child has symptoms, has been diagnosed, is going through treatment, is surviving with a brain tumour or otherwise, then please get in touch. We will try to help in whatever way we can.

Our website offers information about paediatric brain tumours – the types, the treatments and what to expect. We can send Booster Boxes for your children, can discuss the types of support your family needs, or we are just here for you to talk to or message. 

Let's make a difference

Make a Donation

Let's talk numbers

Did You Know That...?

0
children are diagnosed with a brain tumour each month in the UK
50 %
of the national spend on cancer research is allocated to this devastating disease
No. 20
Brain tumours are the biggest cancer killer of children and under 40s in the UK
0 %
of children wait over a year before first symptoms and a correct diagnosis
Events

Have Fun and Raise Funds

Join our events and support our cause!

Bish Race Night
Friday 8th March

Bonkers Bishopthorpe Race Night

Poker banner 3
Sunday March 24th

Poker and Pizza

Tattoos and Trims square
Sunday April 14th

Tattoos And Trims

Edale Skyline
Sunday 5th May

Edale Skyline – Family Challenge 2024

Golf day square
Thursday 23rd May

Pike Hills Golf Day and Dinner

Manchester Half
Sunday 26th May

Great Manchester Run Half-Marathon

RL Allstars 1
Sunday 2nd June

Rugby League AllStars

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Saturday 29th June

Inflatable Run 2024

Curry
Monday 14th October

Parvin Curry and Quiz Night

yorkshire marathon relay
Sunday 20th October

Yorkshire Marathon Relay

Father Christmas
15th & 22nd December

Christmas Carols

What our Donors say

We Can Change Lives

You can help children with brain tumors and their families.

"I have been delighted to be introduced to this charity and will continue to support this very important cause in the future."
Jill Rucklidge
Selby, Yorkshire
"Thank you so much for the most amazing gift boxes. They are over the moon with the thoughtful gifts."
Parent of child with a brain tumour
London
"The help from OSCAR's means the world to us. Roux got physio all summer and we couldn't have done it without your help."
Amy and Anthony Owen, parents of Roux
Hull
"Since Day 1 of reading about OSCAR's, the team wanted to help. Phil's idea of us becoming Charity of the Year was a great success with numerous events put in place. Thank you to everyone at OSCAR's for highlighting this horrible disease."
Steve Butler
Vantage Motor Group

Facts & Quotes

oscars children event
Why you should get involved?

Children Need Your Help

Brain tumours are the biggest cancer killers in children, a fact many people are unaware of.

When we lose more young people to brain tumours than to any other cancer, and when brain tumour patients are left with a reduced quality of life, this is just not good enough.

But you can help us change this. Together, we can change lives.

Click the button below to find out about how we support children and families at their point of greatest need, raise awareness of signs and symptoms and are involved in the latest research.

Do You Need Any Help Or Assistance?

Rachel James

Community Fundraising Assistant
Rachel will join our team on September 1st and will be doing a wide range of tasks including promoting the charity in the local community, developing relationships with different people and organisations, and finding new fundraising opportunities. She comes from a caring background having been a teaching assistant and emotional literacy support assistant in York for many years, and previously leading a community care team. She has also done many years of work in the voluntary sector.

Matthew Taylor

Trustee

Matthew Taylor is Director of the York Health Economics Consortium at the University of York. He has been a supporter of OSCAR’s since its inception and, through his twenty years of research into the measurement of health-related quality of life, Matthew is keenly aware of the huge benefits that new treatments can bring to people living with brain tumours.

Matthew is actively involved in national-level healthcare decision making, having had former roles as the Scientific Director of the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE)’s Economic and Methodological Unit and as a committee member for NICE’s Public Health Advisory Group. He has over fifty peer-reviewed scientific publications, including a chapter in the textbook ‘The Business, Policy and Economics of Neurosurgery’.

Ryan Mathew

Clinical Trustee

Ryan Mathew is an Associate Professor at the University of Leeds and an Honorary Consultant Neurosurgeon at Leeds Teaching Hospitals.

The Hughes Family story had a big impact on Ryan. He first learnt of the charity when he became surgeon to Oscar’s dad, Ian. After a successful surgery, he continued to show great care and concern for the family when Ian became ill again and when Milo, Oscar’s brother, was diagnosed with a brain tumour. Ryan is driven to make life outcomes better for brain tumour patients and their families. His extensive work in both research and surgery is testament to that commitment.

His clinical practice covers the full spectrum of general neurosurgery with a subspecialty in brain tumours. His research focuses on advanced brain tumour models, residual therapy-resistant glioma cell populations, local therapeutic treatments and surgical technologies and devices. He peer-reviews for several journals and grant award committees and has published numerous papers.

More information on Ryan’s work

Lisa Dawson

Social & Digital Trustee

Lisa has been a friend of the Hughes family since 2016 and was honoured to be asked in 2022 to represent OSCAR’s PBTC as Social & Digital Trustee.  Both Lisa and her family have taken part in numerous fundraising events and are dedicated to raising awareness of paediatric brain tumours.  Lisa is a social media content creator, blogger and writer and lives in York with her husband Joe and three children, Ella, Max and Leo.

Alice Beckwith

Partnerships Trustee

Alice has been involved with OSCAR’s PBTC since 2020. She passionately supports the aims of the charity and believes that if the charity can change one life for the better, then it is a success. Working in the public sector for 18 years, Alice has helped transform Adult and Children’s Social Care Services by ensuring heavy investment in preventative services. This is why the impact OSCAR’s work will have on families is at the forefront of Alice’s motivation to be involved.

As partnerships trustee, Alice is keen to involve businesses, trusts and individuals in the work OSCAR’s does and show them the role they can have in providing the base for the charity to continue to expand its projects to help children with brain tumours.

Sarah Jane Gray

Trustee/Secretary

Sarah has over 20 years of experience in the pharmaceutical and surgical sales sector and is very familiar with the importance of medical advancements for better patient outcomes. She believes research is essential for improving diagnosis, treatment and prognosis for all children with brain tumours and hopes OSCAR’s PBTC can offer much needed funding to help push the boundaries in finding better ways of curing this devastating disease. Sarah’s focus as a treasurer will ensure record-keeping and accounts meet the conditions of the statutory bodies and compliance with regulatory organisations.

Sharon Reid

Chief executive officer

Sharon has been involved with OSCAR’s PBTC since its inception, helping create the charity alongside Oscar’s parents. She hopes that the work of the charity will allow more families to get the support and care that they need when they get a brain tumour diagnosis in their family. Sharon has 20 years experience in the  entertainment industry, working across PR, film, TV and gaming.

Phil Martinez

Charity Manager

Marie Hughes

ChAIR OF THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES

Marie founded the charity with her husband Ian, who passed away in 2020. She is the mother of four boys. Two of Marie’s sons have died from different types of brain tumours – Oscar who was 9 and Milo who was 5 years old. She is determined to help find better treatments for brain tumours so other children won’t have to go through what her own sons and her family have.

Marie is Chair of the Board of Trustees, working closely withe the team on strategy and vision. Marie lives in Copenhagen with her two other sons, Sebastian and Lucas, and works as a Risk Manager on the Danish railway.