A Glasgow woman who lost her dad to a brain tumour has abseiled down the Forth Bridge in his memory. 

In a bid to raise awareness and funds to find a cure for the disease, Lucy Newbery, 27, abseiled down the UNESCO World Heritage Site for the charity Brain Tumour Research on Sunday, October 8. 

Lucy lost her father, Alexander Newbery, in April 2010, when he was just 39 years old.

Glasgow Times:

Now, the drama teacher, who resides in the West End, has labelled her recent efforts as 'wonderful' and 'overwhelming'. 

She said: “The whole day was wonderful. It was so rousing to see so many people and their families out fundraising for a cause close to their hearts.

"It was overwhelming to share stories within our wee abseil team about those we’d lost that we were raising money for, but very comforting too.

"Raising money is so important because we need to understand as much as possible about brain tumours so new treatments can be found which are as effective and non-invasive as possible."

Glasgow Times:

Back in 1991, while living in London with his wife-to-be, Francesca, Alexander was suffering from headaches and was sick at home very unexpectedly.

Lucy said: “He was also sick, out of the blue, while walking to work one day on Kensington High Street. Mum took him to A&E at Charing Cross Hospital; she had to take him several times before Dad was actually seen and admitted.

"In November 1993, he had a scan which revealed two tennis ball-sized tumours on his brain stem.”

Surgeons managed to remove the majority of the tumour and Alexander then underwent a course of radiotherapy.

When he recovered, the couple married and moved to Edinburgh to start a family. 

Alexander, a session musician and jazz pianist, had a check-up scan which revealed the tumour had grown so he had a second operation.

Lucy said: “Dad struggled with his balance, and he went deaf in one ear, so he had to change career. He was a phenomenal musician, but he decided to become a software engineer. He never complained though; life threw so much at him, but he was so positive.

"In January 2010, Dad needed a third operation but a scan shortly after showed the tumour had grown aggressively; it had spread tentacles across his brain. 

"The doctors said there was nothing more they could do.”

Glasgow Times:

Speaking on Lucy's abseil, Matthew Price, community development manager at Brain Tumour Research, said: “We’re really grateful to Lucy for abseiling down the Forth Bridge as it’s only with the support of people like her that we’re able to progress our research into brain tumours and improve the outcome for patients like Alexander who are forced to fight this awful disease.”

To donate to Lucy’s JustGiving page, click HERE