About BT Buddies

My name is Natalya Jagger and in June 2006 I joined the Brain Tumour community when my best friend Andrew's daughter, Rose, was diagnosed with a Glioblastoma Multiforme - a Grade 4 (IV) Brain Tumour. Like many people who are thrown into this world I had a need for information and answers to so many different questions.

I spent hours trawling the internet to find anything I could that might help and joined various online brain tumour groups in the hope that others would be able to offer answers to my questions and share their experiences. I was touched by the closeness that many of these groups have and the overwhelming feeling of hope that they give to all those who join.

However, the biggest thing I was struck by was the lack of information for high grade brain tumour patients in the UK. I became increasingly frustrated when I had to sift through information from the USA to work out which bits were relevant to us here in the UK and often thought there must be a better way.

When Rose passed away I put the information I had collected in a drawer and vowed never to look at it again, but, somebody somewhere had other ideas. Due to my own ill health I found myself with a lot of time on my hands and I decided to take out my folder and start participating in the brain tumour groups I had joined again. This was the start of BT Buddies.

The name Brain Tumour (BT) Buddies came from the fundraising Rose's father and I were doing in Rose's memory. We had decided to call our fundraising 'arm' RoseBuddies and it seemed right to keep a connection between the two by calling this website BT Buddies.

The purpose of BT Buddies is to provide as much information as possible in one place on high grade brain tumours for patients, families and caregivers in the UK. As well as the information pages we have a forum area where people can ask questions, get support, share their stories, and more.

On Monday 10th May 2010, BT Buddies became a national charity. We have grown rapidly over the last 18+ months and currently help around 2,500 people per month through our websites, email support service, face to face and online support groups. Moving forward, we will be launching 2 very exciting new projects in 2011 and hope to continue to expand the information and support we provide to all those affected by a high grade brain tumour.

Natalya and the BT Buddies Team

Praise for bt buddies

"The (BT Buddies) site is easy to navigate and clearly presented. It doesn’t make any suggestions or claims and is purely to provide information and support."

Macmillan Cancer Support / Cancerbackup

"This is quite the most informative website I have seen for patients who are afflicted with a high grade brain tumour. It's a beacon in the darkness."

Dr. Helen Bulbeck, Director of Brainstrust

“I know of no site in the UK or US that comes close to providing such a breadth and depth of information and in such a professional and user friendly way.”

David Grant, Brain Tumour Survivor

"BT Buddies is an excellent example of creating an easy to navigate site that gives information in clear language and it is a valuable resource especially as a first-stop for someone initially seeking knowledge about brain tumors and as a resource for hope."

Northeast Centre for Special Care Lake Katrine, NY

"Everything about the site is spot on. We finally have a UK website dedicated to high grade tumours! I wish it had been available back when I was diagnosed!"

Rebecca, Brain Tumour Survivor

"The website is fantastic and you've done a great job with it: it's informative, easy to navigate and does exactly what you set out to do."

Jen, Glioblastoma Multiforme Survivor

awards and achievements

This site complies to the HONcode standard for trustworthy health information: verify here.

BT Buddies supports the work of the following organisations AND CAMPAIGNS

This page was last modified on 2nd July 2011 at 05:00