Daughter of Northampton woman who suffered a brain tumour fundraises for research charity seventh year in a row

The daughter of a Northampton woman who died from a pulmonary embolism in September 2020 continues to fundraise for a brain tumour charity in her mother’s memory.

Primary school teacher, Amelia Ferguson, 27, took part in Brain Tumour Research’s “Wear a Hat Day” on Friday March 31 alongside her colleagues.

Amelia has taken part in the fundraiser for the past seven years, which encourages people to “don a hat of all shapes and sizes” on the last Friday in March.

“I wish mum was with me to do it,” she said.

“I’ll be doing this in her memory and I think she would be really proud.

“I want to help find a cure for this devastating disease so other people don’t have to go through what we’ve been through.”

Dionne Ferguson was 36 when she was diagnosed with a brain tumour back in 2011.

After being dismissed by Northampton General Hospital for migraines that were so bad she was “unable to see”, Dionne demanded an MRI after her symptoms worsened and she began suffering from seizures.

Amelia added: “Within three days, she was in surgery.

“It changed our lives overnight.”

Following her diagnosis, Dionne underwent surgery at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford, but suffered a bleed on the brain during the procedure.

Amelia said: “The fluid in Mum’s brain wasn’t draining so she needed to have a shunt inserted. She needed to have five operations because it kept getting infected.

“Mum had so many complications, such as pneumonia, a blood clot, and she needed to be resuscitated three times.

“She also had locked-in syndrome so her only way of communicating was through blinking.”

However, after Dionne reached a stable point in her recovery, she died suddenly on September 14, 2020 from a pulmonary embolism, aged 45.

“Mum showed such resilience and determination throughout her journey,” Amelia said.

“Despite being in care herself, she fundraised for Brain Tumour Research and showed such compassion and care towards others despite the struggles she face.”

Brain Tumour Research hopes, through fundraisers like ‘Wear a Hat Day’, they will have the resources to influence government policy and national investment decisions, so brain tumours and their symptoms do not continue to go unrecognised.