Underbelly Raises £20,000 at 8th Annual Big Brain Tumour Benefit
Nish Kumar, Rosie Jones, Rhys James, Larry Dean, Catherine Bohart, Emmanuel Sonubi, Felicity Ward and Justin Moorhouse performed at the fundraiser for The Cancer Research Centre in Cambridge
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Underbelly, one of the largest venues at the Edinburgh Fringe, has raised £20,000 at its eighth annual Big Brain Tumour Benefit for Professor Richard Gilbertson’s lab at The Cancer Research Centre in Cambridge. The annual event welcomed performances from luminaries of the stand-up scene, including Nish Kumar, Rhys James, Rosie Jones, Larry Dean, Catherine Bohart, Emmanuel Sonubi, Felicity Ward and Justin Moorhouse.
Underbelly created the Big Brain Tumour Benefit in 2017 following co-founder Ed Bartlam’s son Alfie being diagnosed with ependymoma, a rare and aggressive form of brain cancer. Alfie passed away two years later, at the age of seven. All of the profits from the Big Brain Tumour Benefit will be donated to Professor Richard Gilbertson’s lab to fund brain cancer research.
Ed Bartlam, Underbelly’s co-founder, said: ‘I am so grateful to everyone who attended Underbelly’s 8th annual Big Brain Tumour Benefit last night, and to the fantastic line-up of comedians who gave their time and talent to make it such a success. It’s incredible that as a community we have raised more than £20,000, with all of the funds going to Professor Richard Gilbertson’s lab and directly funding cutting-edge tumour prevention and treatment.’
Gilbertson said: ’We are truly excited and humbled by the amazing partnership with Underbelly and Angel Child. Everyday, we work to end the devastation caused to children and their families by brain tumours. We will accept nothing less than total eradication of these devastating childhood cancers. Thanks to the support we have already received we are about to take a completely new therapy to the clinic. We could not have done this without Underbelly and Angel Child. Together with our collaborators, we have developed a number of other, completely new and kinder treatments, taking us even closer the day when no child will suffer or die from a brain tumour.’
Picture: Ian Georgeson.