Bill Bastow Charity Fundraiser

In memory of Bill Bastow
Bill was a much-loved husband, father, older brother and uncle. He was at the heart of our family and will be deeply missed by everyone who knew and loved him.

After three weeks in hospital, following a number of sudden and unexplained losses of balance in quick succession, Bill was diagnosed with glioblastoma multiforme on 19th February 2026.
Despite the devastatingly aggressive nature of the disease, Bill remained surrounded by his family and was cared for at home in his final days. On 11th September 2026, Bill sadly passed away peacefully at our family home, surrounded by his immediate family.

Bill had Li-Fraumeni syndrome (LFS), a rare inherited cancer predisposition syndrome caused by changes in the TP53 gene. People with LFS have a significantly increased risk of developing a range of cancers throughout their lives.

UK clinical guidance recommends regular surveillance for people with pathogenic TP53 variants, including annual whole-body MRI and dedicated brain MRI. These recommendations are intended to give those living with LFS the best possible opportunity for earlier detection and intervention.

Surveillance can detect cancers before symptoms develop, and cancers detected through LFS surveillance are substantially more likely to be localised/early-stage. For a tumour such as glioblastoma, where tumour size, location and the ability to achieve maximal safe resection influence treatment and survival, detecting a tumour earlier may provide more opportunities for intervention.

Due to a lack of awareness and the absence of a consistent, accessible surveillance programme, not every individual living with LFS is given the opportunity to access and adhere to the recommended surveillance. Unfortunately Bill was one of these individuals.

We hope that by raising awareness of LFS and supporting organisations working to improve surveillance and early detection, we can help ensure that others living with the condition have access to the care and monitoring they deserve so that they can increase their chances of survival.

We will never know whether having access to this screening could have changed the outcome for Bill. But his experience has made us want to raise awareness of LFS and the importance of ensuring that people who carry a TP53 variant are aware of, and have access to, appropriate monitoring.

We believe that annual screening for people with LFS should be something that is routinely available through the NHS, ideally as a programme, so that other families do not have to face the same uncertainty that ours has.

Once Bill was diagnosed, we were also shocked to discover just how limited the treatment options remain for people diagnosed with glioblastoma. Brain tumours remain one of the areas of cancer research where there is a significant unmet need. Progress in brain tumours has been much slower than other cancers, and glioblastoma remains one of the most challenging cancers to treat.

This lack of progress is particularly concerning when the scale of the disease is considered. Around 13,000 people in the UK are diagnosed with a primary brain tumour each year, and more than 5,400 people die from a brain tumour each year. Brain tumours are also the biggest cancer killer of children and young people under 40 in the UK.

Despite this, brain tumour research continues to receive a disproportionately small share of cancer research funding. The Brain Tumour Charity reports that just 3.2% of the £700 million invested in UK cancer research funding was spent on brain tumours.

These figures represent the reality that when someone is diagnosed with a devastating disease such as glioblastoma, there can still be very few effective treatment options available. There have been important developments in research, but there remains a huge amount that we do not yet understand about brain tumours, their biology and how to treat them effectively.

Bill’s experience has shown us how desperately more research, better treatments and earlier detection are needed. We want to help support the organisations working to change this, so that in the future a diagnosis of glioblastoma does not carry the same devastating lack of options that it did for Bill.

We are therefore raising money for The George Pantziarka TP53 Trust and The Brain Tumour Charity. The TP53 Trust works specifically to raise awareness of LFS, support affected families and advocate for appropriate surveillance and research. The Brain Tumour Charity funds brain-tumour research and works to improve awareness, diagnosis and outcomes for people affected by brain tumours.

If you would like to make a donation in Bill’s memory, we would be incredibly grateful. We hope that in the future, fewer families affected by LFS and brain tumours have to wonder whether earlier detection could have made a difference.
For Bill, and for the families that come after ours.