A STUDENT who lost his mum to a brain tumour has inspired his university to take part in a charity event to help find a cure for the disease.

Members of Bournemouth University’s students’ union have signed up to take part in the Brain Tumour Research charity’s Wear A Hat Day, the UK’s premier brain tumour awareness event.

Undergraduates and their tutors will flood the campus with a sea of hats, from beanies to cowboy hats, trilbies to Panamas, baseball caps to novelty headpieces. They are participating in the fundraiser, which takes place on Friday March 29, in support of second year nutrition student Mark Stephenson, 50, from Fareham.

Mark’s mum Carol Cooper, a psychiatric nurse, died just six weeks after her diagnosis with a glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) – a highly aggressive type of tumour – in August 2000, aged 53.

Mark said: "It was a dreadful shock to lose Mum just weeks after her diagnosis and I feel as if I didn’t process the grief until about two years ago. Counselling helped me to come to terms with my loss and I realised that I’d been keeping a lot to myself. It’s only now that I feel ready to share Mum’s story and to be able to put pictures up of her around the house. She was a beautiful person inside and out, nothing could ever replace her.

"I was delighted when the students’ union agreed to support me in my fundraising efforts for Brain Tumour Research.

Tim Green, senior community fundraising manager in the South East, said: "It’s touching that the students and staff at Bournemouth University are so committed to fundraising to support Mark.

"Sadly, Carol’s story is not uncommon. Less than 20 per cent of those diagnosed with a brain tumour survive beyond five years. We cannot allow this desperate situation to continue."

To donate to Mark’s JustGiving page, go to justgiving.com/fundraising/thecartooncommando