The latest fundraising quiz for Brain Tumour Support is to take place on Friday, April 12 at Exmouth Football Club.

As usual, the quiz is being organised by local resident Jeanette Hackwell, a passionate fundraiser for the charity that enabled her to cope with her own brain tumour diagnosis a few years ago.

It comes as the charity is launching an urgent appeal to raise £200,000 to keep its services going. Brain Tumour Support has seen demand increase by more than 50 per cent in the last six months, at the same time as the cost of living crisis has hit its income.

Jeanette is just one of the many people who feel indebted to the charity, which was recommended to her after her shocking diagnosis.

She said: “After leaving hospital I was getting more and more depressed, worried what the future held, what was there to look forward to and a million other questions too – all unanswerable at that time. 

“The Specialist Nurse knew that I was struggling and put me in touch with Brain Tumour Support. A very kind person asked if I would like to go to one of their face-to-face meetings at Exeter and I said yes.

“To be among folks who understood my fears, could answer lots of my worries for the future, explain what could happen in the future… it was wonderful to know that there was someone there for me, and not just for me either - the support included my son, friends and others too. It was a real comfort to know this.

“Being amongst people who had a much more serious tumour than I (there are 120 different types of tumour) made me realise how lucky I was to have been found by BTS.

“After a couple of years I realised that I could, and should, help to ensure that there was help for others and that life for them was essential, if they too needed support in every sense of the word. Love and help is a wonderful thing. Fundraising is my way of saying thank you to the charity that has given me back a purpose in life.

“My main way of fundraising is to hold quizzes, I can plan carefully the actions that are needed to produce posters, find questions, print them out and do whatever is needed. Not all at once, I have to be very careful about resting and listen to my body telling me NO!

“If there is anyone who would like to help me organise any form of fundraising I’d be thrilled to hear from them.

"Without Brain Tumour Support it is quite likely that I wouldn’t be alive today. Sounds dramatic doesn’t it, but it is very true."

Tickets for the quiz night on April 12 are £5 per person. To book a table, call Jeanette on 07966 567 288 or email jeanettehackwell1@gmail.com

For more information about the help Brain Tumour Support offers, visit www.braintumoursupport.co.uk