A MAJOR campaign to support brain tumour patients and their families in Dorset will be launched next week to mark Brain Tumour Awareness Month.

The one-day event on March 7 has been organised by the charity Hammer Out which was founded in 2003 by Tina Mitchell Skinner after she lost her husband Paul to a brain tumour when he was aged 37.

The charity now runs 11 support groups across the region including one in Wareham.

“There is no clear cause and no cure,” Tina explains.

“Some brain tumours can now be treated or controlled by surgery, radio-therapy and chemotherapy, but even those who are lucky enough to survive are likely to experience life-changing effects, both physical and emotional.”

It was the lack of support available during Paul’s illness that inspired Tina to start providing help, initially just from her living room.

Hammer Out, which is running the campaign in conjunction with The Brain Tumour Charity, is inviting everyone to show their support by wearing a bandana and donating £1.

The charity has specially-designed charity bandanas available to buy from its website hammerout.co.uk for £3 or people can wear their own.

This year’s theme is How Will You Wear Yours? and photos and nominations are invited to find the best or most unusual way of wearing a bandana, most bandanas in one picture and a challenge to see who can get one or more famous people to wear a bandana.

Tina adds: “Our team, which includes patient and family workers and counsellors, is there to help all those who are affected, with practical guidance, emotional support, information about treatment, help coping with bereavement and much more, for as long as we are needed.

“We are asking everyone if they would spare a thought – and a pound – for those whose lives have changed because of a brain tumour and to show their support by wearing a bandana on March 7 or running a bandana-themed fundraising event.”