We have a number of passions at the restaurant that inspire and drive us. Excellent produce, delicious food, amazing wines, great service…they are all obvious.

Health and wellbeing are also at the heart of everything we do, and an important contribution to that is our association with Brain Tumour Research Campaign and our continued fundraising for this cause.

Last month I undertook a true challenge, to cycling from London to Brighton to fundraise. Every evening 10% of all gratuity given from our guests also goes to this worthy cause.

So why this charity in particular? For those of you who may not know, I have first hand experience of this awful illness. On 18th May 2015 suffered a major seizure caused by a slow growing tumour. A MRI, CT scan and biopsy revealed a low grade 2 diffuse glioma. In the August of that year I had a successful craniotomy to remove the mass.

I was lucky to receive such good treatment so quickly and to have a great team to aid my rehabilitation. This experience deeply affected me and motivates every decision I make.

My tumour is slow growing so could come back at anytime, everything I do is about reducing my risk of having this mass return and living a healthy and vibrant lifestyle.

With all that in mind, of course I would support a charity which is so close to my heart. However this goes beyond my experiences, this is a disease that affects many more people than is acknowledged and the importance of research for the future recovery rates cannot be pushed to one side.   

Today, brain tumours are the largest cancer killer for children and adults under the age of 40.

For the most part this is due to the lack of funding that allows researchers to do the necessary work to limit the danger this cancer possess. Even if a certain type of tumour is known of, the progressiveness of treatment can help limit the detrimental and sometimes debilitating effects of surgery, radio and chemotherapy. Improving research will not only help the diagnosis of tumours but also enable more effective, efficient and less invasive ways of treating tumours. Cancer isn’t an issue that solely impacts the person with the illness but all of those in their network and support system, their friends and families.

Improved understanding helps this whole system comprehend and deal with this catastrophe better, hopefully with an increasingly positive outlook. The only way to improve this situation is to increase public awareness and do our bit to boost fundraising. Beyond the research element, BTRC (Brain Tumour Research Campaign) is a great charity that never uses the money raised to fund administration and advertising and so you can be sure that 100% of net donations go to donations into research.

Stay tuned for more ways the Food by John Lawson team will be contributing and, of course, feel free to donate!