Mum Raffles House to Fund Brain Tumour Treatment | The Brain Tumour Charity

A beauty therapist from Burnley, Lancashire, is raffling off her home in a bid to raise £350,000 for specialist cancer treatment in Germany, after NHS options were exhausted. Claire Nutter, 48, was diagnosed with an oligodendroglioma brain tumour in July 2023, following months of misdiagnosis relating to menopause and high blood pressure.

Nutter is selling tickets for £5 each, offering the chance to win her £800,000 home, or a share of the funds raised if the raffle doesn’t reach its target. The fundraising effort comes as a new report from The Brain Tumour Charity highlights the financial pressures faced by patients seeking innovative treatments not readily available within the UK’s National Health Service.

“When my partner Gary first came up with the idea to raffle the house I think I laughed! I thought it was ridiculous,” Nutter said. “I don’t want to move. I’ve lived here for 21 years. But the cost of the treatment I’m researching is absolutely astronomical and out of reach otherwise.”

Following three operations to remove part of the tumour, chemotherapy proved ineffective, and radiotherapy was deemed too risky due to potential side effects. Nutter and her partner, Gary, began exploring alternative treatment options, including private care in Germany.

The treatment Nutter is seeking includes immunotherapy costing approximately £100,000 and a personalized vaccine, created from her own tumour cells, priced at £250,000. “We’re looking into other options because we don’t want to just give up. You’ve got to try things,” she explained. “Gary has been amazing. He’s researched everything and watched more podcasts than you think! The clinic we found in Germany can offer more treatments which will hopefully aid reduce my tumour.”

The Brain Tumour Charity’s new report, ‘Unlocking Innovation for Brain Tumours in the UK’, details how limited access to new treatments and clinical trials is driving patients to seek potentially unproven therapies abroad, often at significant personal financial cost. The report notes that patients are increasingly resorting to selling homes, remortgaging properties, or crowdfunding to afford treatment not available through the NHS.

“I’d feel more comfortable if I could have these treatments in the UK and I also think it’d mean that it would be less expensive in the long run as you wouldn’t have the same travel costs,” Nutter added.

A fundraising page established to support Nutter’s treatment has already raised nearly £25,000.