Sarah Kitchener, aged 23 from Wickford, was the life and soul of the party, bubbly and driven. She had her dream job as a trainee accountant in the City, a loving family and partner and the world was her oyster. Until that world rapidly fell apart when she unexpectedly collapsed at work on February 1st 2006 with no recollection of what had happened. She’d had a seizure, which was caused by an astrocytoma, a high grade brain tumour.

Like everything else she fought, Sarah fought to succeed, but sadly after four long years of treatment, Sarah Kitchener – who during her illness got married to her partner, David Perrow – lost her brave battle.

Sarah passed away on March 3rd 2010 aged just 27, one of 5000 people who die every year from a brain tumour. March is brain tumour awareness month and Sarah’s battle for life, her love and her legacy live on through her husband, family and friends with The Sarah Kitchener Perrow Fund.

The fund was started whilst Sarah, a former A level student at Westcliff High School For Girls, was still alive and since it began it has raised an amazing £265,000 and has now also been shortlisted for the Viv McBeth Fundraiser of the Year Award 2018. It is part of the first ever The Brain Tumour Charity: Celebrating You Awards, recognizing those like Sarah’s family and loved ones in the brain tumour community who are leading the way in family support, awareness and in vital research.

Mum, Nicky Kitchener, from Wickford, said: “We are keeping her memory and name alive, and Sarah would love to know she continues to help others. I think Sarah is supporting our fundraising efforts because we are drawn to things she liked doing; we can almost hear her saying ‘oh go on, give that a go.’ I just feel that when we organise an event we say ‘what would Sarah do?’ She’s still very much our inspiration.

“Sometimes it feels like we are trying to live her life through ourselves. We’ve got this great big void and people think that after eight years things get easier, but it doesn’t as you are mourning for the life that she didn’t have.”

It’s 12 years since Sarah got that dreadful diagnosis, a moment that is still as vivid today as it was on that February morning. Nicky said: “We all stood in disbelief and floods of tears as the doctor explained Sarah had a tumour in the brain, you just don’t even think it is going to be something that is going to impact you or your family, certainly not your children. She was our guiding light and towering strength and losing her tore our lives apart.”

Since then though the family, through their own research and by meeting other families affected by this cruel disease, as well as medical experts, have become knowledgeable about brain tumours.

Nicky said: “Brain tumours are the biggest cancer killer of children and adults under 40 and over 11,000 people are diagnosed each year with a primary brain tumour, including 500 children and young people – that’s 30 people every day.”

Nicky continued: “Our lives changed on that fateful day, with new priorities and challenges for us all. Without a doubt it was Sarah who showed the greatest bravery and courage, making it clear that this tumour wasn’t going to beat her that easily. She had an unstinting ambition and determination and Sarah faced the world with a smile despite going through awake craniotomies, radiotherapy, chemotherapy and having physical difficulties which made every day such a struggle.

“Sarah focused on living life to the full and ensured that the ambitions she had set were not out of her reach.”

These included various fundraising plans, including marathons, garden funday. One she didn’t get to see though was climbing Mount Kilimanjaro. It was something she wanted to do, so there was no question that the family wouldn’t do it and she was very much there in spirit when they reached the peak.

Nicky said: “We all miss Sarah so much each and every day and we just hope we have made her proud of us by helping others to beat this devastating disease. Continuing her fund has helped support us all, continued to give us strength even when we’ve felt like we could do no more. Sarah would want us to continue to help make a day to day difference to those living with brain tumours and their families, as well as providing hope for better clinical outcomes in the future.

“Sarah was a very determined young lady, she’d be the first to admit she wasn’t the best at everything but she’d certainly give everything her best. We didn’t get that better clinical outcome for Sarah but we know that she would not want us to give up, so we won’t.”

You can vote for The Sarah Kitchener Perrow Fund up until Saturday 31st March by visiting http://bit.ly/BrainTumourAwards and clicking through to The Viv McBeth Fundraiser of the