Youth football coach bids to boost funds for Milton Keynes charity online Advent Appeal

A youth football coach from Milton Keynes is taking part in a charity Christmas Advent Appeal in memory of relatives who lost their lives to brain tumours.

Suki Sandhu lost both his cousin and brother-in-law to glioblastoma (GBM) and has shared his story as part of an online Brain Tumour Research Advent Calendar to remind people why research into brain tumours is so important.

Sui, 51, lost his cousin Sarinder ‘Shindi’ Sangha, who was a PhD graduate, librarian and former college lecturer. The father-of-two died in March 2020, aged 59.

Suki’s brother-in-law, Aman Sumal, was an engineer and identical twin who left behind a wife and young son when he died, aged 36, in November 2021.

In his video, which sits behind today’s door (4 December), Suki, a chief product officer for online gaming company Gaming Realms and a youth football coach, said: “I knew very little about brain tumours until it impacted our family and I saw the strain on the family when they were trying to look around the world to try to get a cure. It also appeared to me at that point how little funding goes into brain tumour research from the government in the UK.”

The calendar was launched with a message from Antiques Roadshow expert Theo Burrell, who is a Brain Tumour Research patron and glioblastoma (GBM) patient. It is hoped the poignant stories it contains will inspire visitors to donate to the charity.

Suki, who has raised more than £7,000 for the charity, the majority from having run the TCS London Marathon in April, said: “The Advent Appeal is a great campaign to try and raise awareness of brain tumours, which have a devastating effect on families. They kill more children and people under the age of 40 than any other cancer and yet just 1% of the national spend on cancer research has been allocated to the disease since records began in 2002. I’d encourage anyone who can to donate to the appeal.”

Visit the Brain Tumour Research website here to find out more.