AN EAST Lancashire mum whose teenage son died from a brain tumour is heading a campaign to raise £100,000 to research into the disease.

Chris Clarke, from Ramsbottom, died in January only six months after he was diagnosed with having a malignant brain tumour. He was 18.

His mother Karen set up the Christopher Clarke Cancer Research Fund (CCCRF) soon after, to help pay for vital research.

On Saturday nearly £10,000 was raised for the charity at a masquerade ball held at the International Suite at Old Trafford.

Mrs Clarke, who lives in Bury New Road with husband Noel, son James, 20, and daughter Samantha, 15, said: "It was a wonderful night and a great success, everybody made a real effort with the masks. We had many of Chris's former classmates and teachers at Holy Cross College there, and people were very generous, we made £5,000 just from the auction.

"We also had a magician who was fantastic and did his act for free, and the live blues band performed at a discounted rate."

Mrs Clarke, a former nurse and nursing lecturer, said: "This is the first big event I've ever done, so I didn't have a specific target in mind, the advertising and so on costs a lot, so I'm really pleased with the amount we raised, and would like to say a huge thanks to everyone who supported us."

The event was the grand finale to a series of fund-raisers held through the year, and has brought the total raised for the research fund so far to £35,000.

When the fund was set up, a professor in the young oncology unit at Manchester's Christie Hospital said that £100,000 would be needed to fund a research post into the causes and treatment of young people with brain tumours.

Mrs Clarke said: "I'm very happy with how much has been raised, because it's a long process to get established, but people have been fantastic and we get more and more support all the time."

As well as the big events, donations are coming in from many avenues, from money raised at a wine-tasting evening held by staff at Bury's Holy Cross College, to friends doing sponsored walks.

Lancaster University has also made the CCCRF its chosen charity this year, after a friend of Chris - or Clarkey as he was known - who is studying there asked them.

Next year, there will be a fund-raising barn dance, a fashion show and several people running marathons in Chris's memory, and there are plans to make the masquerade ball an annual event.

Mrs Clarke added: "I have very recently heard of two more who have died of brain tumours at a young age; this is an area where research needs to be done, and soon, so that more families don't have to suffer as we are, and hopefully we will eventually prevent more young people from needlessly losing their lives to this awful disease."

To add your support or for more information go to www.cccrf.co.uk.