A GRIEVING father shared the story of how he lost his daughter to cancer at an event in the Houses of Parliament to raise awareness.

David Taylor of Winchmore Hill set up the member charity In Sue’s Name to highlight what he deems “the chronic lack of underfunding” towards researching brain tumours.

David’s eldest daughter Sue Blasotta passed away in 2011 aged 42 six weeks after being diagnosed with an aggressive brain tumour, leaving her two children, Sasha and Daniel.

Speaker of the House and long-standing patron of charity Brain Tumour Research John Bercow opened the State Rooms of the Speaker’s House to patients, families and supporters as they campaign for change.

David said: “My faith in God has been a huge source of comfort and strength since losing Sue and has given me the inspiration to set up In Sue’s Name to continue her legacy.

“It is a bitter irony that Sue, during her lifetime, witnessed friends and family being diagnosed with varying types of cancer, which inspired her to run the Race for Live five times and also to take on the challenge of a sky dive, raising thousands of pounds for cancer research.

“More research is needed so fewer lives will be devastated by brain tumours. I want to see a day when cancer is no longer life-threatening, when the notion that cancer could be a killer is thought absurd.”

Also in attendance at the event was Debbie McGee whose husband magician Paul Daniels passed away on March 17 last year after contracting a brain tumour.

The event was to encourage MPs to take action against the underfunding of treatments for the 60,000 people living with brain tumours in the UK, according to charity Brainstrust.

Brain tumours kill more children and adults under the age of 40 than any other cancer, while only one per cent of the national spend on cancer research has been allocated to this devastating disease.

David set up his organisation in 2014, which is now a member charity of Brain Tumour Research.

On Friday, March 10 In Sue’s Name held a Greek Night which at the Penridge Suite in Arnos Grove, which raised more than £21,000 to go towards research.

The charity recently launched a £1 million fundraising campaign at Brain Tumour Research’s Centre of Excellence at Queen Mary University of London where it will be supporting vital research into glioblastoma multiforme – the most aggressive and deadliest form of brain tumour.

Last year, the group achieved success of a petition which has resulted in Brain Tumour Research being included in the Government’s Task and Finish Working Group, which aims to tackle historic underfunding of research.