MORE than £80,000 has been raised in memory of a Dunfermline dad who died of an undiagnosed brain tumour.
Mark Richardson, who had a cancerous lump the size of a golf ball, was just 32 when he passed away in May 2016.
He died very suddenly after his wife, Shona, found him collapsed at their home in Dunfermline.
She said: "Mark had been complaining of feeling off colour and the kids and I had been out running errands and left him at home in bed.
"I had called him a few times to check on him but wasn’t able to get a response.
“When we got home I knew something was seriously wrong and he wasn’t breathing.”
An ambulance was called but Mark was pronounced dead a short time after.
A post-mortem revealed he was suffering from a golf ball size tumour that doctors think was slow growing and could have been there for months.
More than 5,000 people lose their lives to a brain tumour each year.
Shona said: “Mark passing away was such a shock, he had no symptoms at all, the kids and I are still coming to terms with it.”
Mark worked for Diageo and his wife, friends and colleagues recently held a charity dinner and auction, raising £62,000 for The Brain Tumour Charity.
Shona said: "I was so touched when Mark’s colleagues from Diageo wanted to fundraise in his memory and that so many thought so highly of my husband.
“The night meant an awful lot, there was a real sense of achievement that Mark didn’t die in vain and the incredible amount raised will go to help others.
“I feel very strongly that there should be more awareness around brain tumours and more funding for research so that other families don’t have to go through what we have had to.”
The total raised in his memory now stands at £80,000 following a series of fundraising events, including a charity climb up Ben Nevis taken on by 30 of Mark’s family and friends in September last year.
Geraldine Pipping, The Brain Tumour Charity’s director of fundraising, said: “We are immensely grateful to Mark’s family, friends and colleagues for their determination to help others in the face of their own loss.
“We receive no government funding and rely 100 per cent on voluntary donations, so it’s only through the efforts of our supporters that we can work towards our twin goals of doubling survival and halving the harm caused by brain tumours.
“Brain tumours are the biggest cancer killer of children and people under 40 in the UK and survival rates have not improved significantly over the last 40 years. We need to change that.”
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