A grieving husband is urging increased funding for brain tumour research, highlighting that the disease is indiscriminate and can affect anyone, at any age.
Kris Beasley, 39, from Chippenham, Wiltshire, spoke out after his wife, Carly, died from a brain tumour in September 2025 at the age of 38.
Beasley and their four-year-old daughter, Ivy, have just experienced their first Mother’s Day without Carly. He said the hardest part is knowing Carly will never see Ivy grow up or guide her through life.
“The silence, the milestones, the everyday moments, everything is different,” he said. “The impact on our family has been devastating. Losing her has left a space that can never be filled.”
Account manager Carly was 30 when she suffered a sudden seizure in September 2017.
Doctors discovered a low-grade oligodendroglioma, a type of primary brain tumour, which was removed, and Carly’s life returned to normal.
However, after giving birth to their daughter in 2021, Carly’s tumour returned. She underwent radiotherapy and chemotherapy, but her condition deteriorated, and she passed away in September 2025.
“To watch someone you love—so fun and energetic—get taken almost bit by bit by such a devastating disease, it’s just really difficult,” Beasley said.
Kris Beasley is now working with the Research Centre of Excellence at the University of Plymouth, where experts stress that brain tumours are indiscriminate, affecting anyone at any age.
Together, they are raising awareness for Brain Tumour Awareness Month, held throughout March. During this month alone, over 1,000 people in the UK will be diagnosed with a brain tumour—a disease that kills more children and adults under 40 than any other cancer.
“You want to try to make a difference when you’ve been through it and give other families hope,” Beasley told Radio Wiltshire.
“Brain tumours are one of the most underfunded cancers, and too many families face the same heartbreak. While it’s too late for Carly, it isn’t too late for others.”
At the Brain Tumour Research Centre of Excellence at the University of Plymouth, scientists are focusing on gliomas, including oligodendrogliomas, to develop more effective treatments.
Researchers are studying why gliomas form and how they progress from low- to high-grade tumours.
Letty Greenfield, the centre’s community fundraising manager, said:
“We urgently need more funding to improve outcomes, create kinder treatments, and ultimately find a cure so other families are spared this devastation.”
About the Author
