BRAIN tumour patient Ann Swadden has backed a report revealing the devastating cost of suffering the disease.

Exposing the Financial Impact of Brain Tumours released by the Brain Tumour Research charity this week highlights the punishing financial burden patients face.

Anne, who featured in the Advertiser earlier this year after she underwent surgery on her brain while she was awake to remove a low-grade glioma, features heavily in the report which will form part of a formal inquiry led by an all-party parliamentary group.

She said: “Being told I had a brain tumour wasn’t really the worst thing. I had to surrender my driving licence and that affected my ability to work.

“The huge rise in the cost of travel insurance meant I couldn’t afford to go on a family holiday to get away from it all.”

She added: “The threat to my independence the diagnosis caused made my life so much more difficult at a time I really needed help and support.”

Based on the experiences of 368 people, the document details the average financial loss of £14,783 per household per year – more than double the £6,840 figure for all cancers.

Families also face an annual rise in household bills and may have to make costly modifications to their homes so they can remain living there.

According to the report they also have to find around £1,582 in travel costs for hospital visits and they are likely to be expected to pay £391 more for travel insurance, putting a holiday beyond reach for many.

The charity’s chief executive Sue Farrington Smith said: “The financial penalties, the loss of independence and the consequential feelings of isolation compound the poor prognosis endured by brain tumour patients and this has got to stop.”

The organisation is calling on the Government to speed up access to better treatments by encouraging more national investment for research into brain tumours, offsetting the debilitating loss of income by providing additional benefits and funding easily accessible financial support for patients while they are receiving treatment.

In the UK 16,000 people are diagnosed every year with brain tumours, which can affect anyone at any age. They kill more children than leukaemia, more men than prostate cancer and more women than breast cancer. They also kill more people under 40 than any other cancer.

Fewer than 20 per cent of people diagnosed with a brain tumour live longer than five years.

The charity wants funding parity with breast cancer and leukaemia and a £30 to £35m investment for research into the condition and to fast track new treatments.