A brain-tumour patient from Dorchester is taking the battle to the disease, having raised close to £5000 for research.

Amy Quin travelled to the Brain Tumour Research Centre of Excellence at the University of Portsmouth on Wednesday to mark the £4800 she has raised, which will fund two days' research at the centre.

Accompanied by her partner Lewis Goodbody, sister Hayley and friend Victoria Knapman, Amy placed two tiles on the centre's Wall of Hope, each tile representing the £2740 it costs to fund a day at of research,

The money was raised through a range of fundraising activities carried out in the two years since Amy was diagnosed with grade-two astrocytoma, the most common form of brain tumour. These included a charity sky-dive last year, marking the first anniversary of Amy's diagnosis, and a sponsored head-shave last week - especially fitting given Amy's job as a barber at Flash Harry's on Icen Way in Dorchester.

Touring the laboratory on Wednesday, Amy said: “It was a great privilege to see the incredible work that is taking place and has given me hope that things are changing for patients like me. Research is the best chance for us as, with quality research, maybe there will be a new treatment in a year’s time and my tumour will shrink and become operable.”

Led by Prof Geoff Pilkington, the team at Brain Tumour Research Centre of Excellence is now one of the largest dedicated teams of lab-based researchers working on this disease within the UK. The team is currently working on five complementary research programmes to investigate brain tumours in both adults and children, including primary and metastatic tumours. Their goal is to create novel and multi-targeted therapies for the treatment of brain cancer.

Brain tumours are indiscriminate; they can affect anyone at any age. What’s more, they kill more children and adults under the age of 40 than any other cancer, yet just 1% of the national spend on cancer research has been allocated to this devastating disease.

Tim Green, community fundraising manager for Brain Tumour Research, said: “We are really grateful to Amy and her family and friends for raising vital funds to support important research into a disease which affects so many people and their families each year. Stories like hers remind us all that we cannot allow this desperate situation to continue.”