Swimmer Archie Goodburn to meet prime minister over cancer funding
Scottish swimmer Archie Goodburn is meeting with Prime Minister Andy Burnham to advocate for increased brain cancer research funding. The government has responded by announcing a new national clinical lead and a review of current progress.
Why it matters
This highlights the impact of individual advocacy on national health policy and the prioritization of rare disease research.
Figure caption, Archie Goodburn said he 'couldn't ask for much more' at this stage of his cancer research plea
Swimmer Archie Goodburn has been successful in his efforts to improve brain cancer care for patients as the UK government announce new measures.
The Scottish athlete, who was diagnosed with three inoperable brain tumours two years ago, met Prime Minister Andy Burnham after making a tearful TV appeal for more investment to be put into brain cancer research.
After the meeting, Burnham announced a new national brain cancer clinical lead and promised a review of brain cancer progress and action to get patients treatment sooner.
Goodburn, 25, thanked the prime minister and said all three of his requests have been "promised to some extent" but "fleshing out" needs to be done on the details.
Also covering this story
One other newsroom covered this event. We read that version too.
Get smarter about the news
Sign up free for a feed built around what you actually care about, Dive Deeper research on any story, and the full text of every article.
Create free accountAlready have an account? Sign in