Fundraiser for teacher with brain tumour hits goal

More than £150,000 has been raised for a teacher to have private treatment on a brain tumour.

Stephen Webb, co-head of English at Hastings High School in Burbage, Leicestershire, was diagnosed with glioblastoma just over a month ago.

A GoFundMe page was set up to help pay for Mr Webb to have private immunotherapy, which may prolong his life by training the body to fight the tumour.

The father of two told the BBC: "We keep pinching ourselves – we did not expect this."

Mr Webb underwent conscious brain surgery to debulk the tumour at 13:00 BST on Thursday.

He previously explained the way the immunotherapy worked was by taking the tumour, after it had been removed, and creating a vaccine that trained the body to fight the tumour.

"The idea that your life has been cut very short is devastating for us," he said.

"It is a case of trying to navigate the time we have left."

Head teacher Claire Bradley told the BBC on Friday: "He was in surgery for a long time. It finished at about 22:00.

"From what I understand, it has gone well. He's in the ICU now, which is what they were expecting.

"It would be amazing if when he wakes up and gains full consciousness, we've hit that £150,000 target so that's one of the first things he hears."

Mr Webb's sister-in-law Sacha Johnson, who set up the fundraiser, said: "Hitting that mark in seven days. We started this at 13:30 last Friday and here we are now over the £150k mark.

"It means Stephen has a fighting chance of having so much more time with his family.

"It feels like I've been holding my breath all week and I can now finally exhale."

Since the fundraiser was launched on 13 September, an outpouring of support has been shown by the community.

An appeal called "Save Our Stephen" took place on Wednesday, when almost 1,000 staff and pupils spelled out the letters SOS on the school field.

Ms Bradley said: "It's obviously a very emotional and difficult time but it's brought everyone together.

"The SOS we did on the field for Stephen was a real opportunity for all of us to stand shoulder to shoulder with Stephen and his family to show just how very much he is cared for.

"The most challenging thing was trying to get him home in time for the operation because there was a huge line of pupils that just wanted to wish him well and let him know what they’ve been doing to raise as much money as possible for him."

Ms Bradley said a number of schools in the county held non-uniform days and other fundraising events on Friday to help.

Grassroots club FC Burbage donated £7,500 to the fundraiser, with committee member and coach Danny O'Toole describing Mr Webb as "a great bloke".

Mr O'Toole said: "Stephen's been a massive help to the club over the years and has always supported our team home and away.

"We're all very fond of him and it was the least we could do.

"He wouldn’t have expected this. He’s such a nice and humble man."

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