Alfie Boe backs widow in brain tumour cure hunt

A widow whose husband died from a brain tumour has been backed by singer Alfie Boe in her battle for better treatments.

Father-of-three and grandfather-of-five, Tom McEntee, from Epsom in Surrey, died from aggressive glioblastoma in November 2015.

His wife, Anne McEntee, said: "Everything I do is to keep Tom's memory alive and make sure that one day, a glioblastoma diagnosis won't be a death sentence."

Tom McEntee, who was 67, died two years after diagnosis following chemotherapy, radiotherapy and five operations.

Anne McEntee and Alfie Boe met with Sarah Beeny, Debbie McGee and Kelsey Parker at Lock and Co Hatters in London on Monday ahead of Brain Tumour Research's fundraising Wear a Hat Day on Friday.

Broadcaster Beeny lost her mother and stepmother to brain tumours; McGee's magician husband Paul Daniels died from a brain tumour and Parker's husband, Tom Parker, of boyband The Wanted, died at 33.

Boe was 23 when his father, Alfred, died of a brain tumour.

Anne McEntee said Wear a Hat Day was a good way to bring together people who want to find a brain tumour cure.

"Tom would have had a good laugh at me trying on gorgeous hats and rubbing shoulders with stars," she said.

Boe, who is patron of Brain Tumour Research, said: "Far too many lives have been lost since my father died. Nothing has changed in nearly three decades.

"There are still too few options for patients and many feel forced to raise hundreds of thousands of pounds to fund treatment abroad.

"We need greater investment in research right now to change the story for brain tumour patients in the UK."

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