Friends of inspirational Brain Tumour Research ambassador and supporter, Nicole Phillips (nee Taylor, aka Nicole Witts), 44, from Soulbury, happily bared all (or nearly all) for a charity calendar to raise funds for Brain Tumour Research, the Milton Keynes Chamber of Commerce’s charity of the year.
No stranger to baring all (she posed naked in 2011 with nothing but a pink top hat to cover her modesty to herald the charity’s annual brain tumour awareness event Wear A Hat Day), Nicole, the mother of two daughters: Megan, now 12 and Ellen, 8, was working as an area manager for a beauty firm in August 2007 when she visited her GP suffering with hearing loss. Despite a grommet being fitted, further symptoms manifested themselves, including whining noises in her head, headaches, trembling in her arms, forgetfulness and difficulty getting her words out. The GP put it all down to stress and so Nicole, in the end, decided to give up work.
In February 2008, Nicole was carrying her then new baby daughter, Ellen, downstairs when she suffered a major fit and was rushed to hospital. A brain scan revealed a massive tumour the size of an orange on the left side of her brain. She underwent a nine hour operation to remove the tumour which fortunately turned out to be benign, although Nicole continued to suffer with short-term memory, tiredness and seizures which meant she couldn’t drive, cook or bath her baby.
Shocked by her experience, and discovering that brain tumours were the biggest cancer killer of the under 40s, Nicole set up a fundraising group under the umbrella of Brain Tumour Research called Head 1st which has raised around £25,000 to date for the charity.
In March 2014, Nicole, who has not worked since 2008, was given the shocking news following an MRI scan that the tumour had grown again, this time to the size of a grape. She had recently got engaged to Phil Phillips and was looking forward to their wedding in July and going on honeymoon. The team of doctors at University College London Hospital (UCLH) decided that she could wait to have treatment until later in the year. Nicole will have a further MRI scan on 26th November and will learn the outcome results as to what will happen to “Timmy Tumour” on 8th December. She is hoping that this will involve gamma knife surgery, rather than radiotherapy (so that she can continue to drive).
Galvanised by the news that Nicole was facing further treatment, her friends are ever more dedicated to helping fundraise for Brain Tumour Research.
Lorraine Bateman of Linslade, explained how the ‘naked’ calendar came about: “What started out as an inebriated idea in a pub one night has now become a reality thanks to the hard work and dedication of some lovely locals from Leighton Buzzard and the surrounding area.
“My friend Hayley Ellis, also from Linslade, and I had just raised over £1,650 doing the Great North Run Half Marathon in Newcastle and wanted to carry on the charity work. We hit on the idea of doing a ‘naked’ calendar and thanks to Ashley Lewis, a professional photographer and local of The Heath Inn in Heath and Reach, who just happened to be sitting nearby, slowly this idea came to life.
“Keeping costs to the bare minimum (excuse the pun), we were also able to bring on-board Clare Earnshaw, proprietor of Priory Press Printers in Dunstable and Sam Fay, a Milton Keynes-based graphic designer, who both freely gave up their time, cost (and bodies). All that was needed now were a few participants willing to show they were good with figures! And that was when Nicole and various friends of ours stepped in to strip for charity.”
Nicole goes on to explain: “We are so grateful to Tracey Balen, the new owner at the Heath Inn who closed the premises one Sunday afternoon to enable us to do the photo shoot for our charity calendar. It was freezing cold that day and a lot of us were so scared about going naked that we had to have a few stiff drinks to give us some Dutch courage.
The Heath is also the venue for our calendar launch event which starts at 7.30pm on 20th November, when there will be music, a raffle, plus the chance to see all the calendar images up close and personal, as well as an opportunity to meet the amazing women that took time out of their busy lives to reveal themselves in aid of this fantastic charity.
“Each of the shots was taken in the Heath; sometimes in quite unexpected places. I don’t know how Lorraine ended up in the gents! If you turn to March, you will find me strategically placed behind the bar, wearing a hat – as is a must on Wear A Hat Day which next year will be on 24th March, towards the end of brain tumour awareness month.”
Nicole concludes: “I am so grateful to everybody who got involved; it was really quite overwhelming. Each Brain Tumour Research Centre of Excellence needs funding of £1 million per year; that’s £2,740 per day, so I really hope the calendar flies off the shelves and we raise loads for this underfunded orphan disease.”
Carol Robertson, Head of Community Fundraising at Brain Tumour Research, commented: “We are so grateful to Lorraine and Hayley for their support, inspired by the lovely Nicole, who just gets on with life despite her ill health and always finds every opportunity to raise awareness.
“The calendar is a fabulous way of supporting vital research and will make a lovely Christmas present, whilst also representing a gift of hope for the thousands of people who are diagnosed with a brain tumour each year and their families.
“Brain tumours kill more children and adults under the age of 40 than any other cancer, yet just 1% of the national cancer spend has been allocated to this devastating disease. This is unacceptable!
“Brain Tumour Research is striving to fund a network of seven dedicated research centres whilst challenging the government and larger cancer charities to invest more in brain tumour research. Help us fund the fight. Together we will find a cure.”
Calendars will be sold on the night of Friday 20th November from 7.30pm at The Heath Inn, Woburn Road, Heath and Reach at £10 each and will be also be on sale at various local shops in Leighton Buzzard; more details can be found here www.facebook.com/BTRLadiescalendar
For more information on Brain Tumour Research go to www.braintumourresearch.org
Photograph courtesy of Ashley Lewis Photography
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