There was no script. No music. Just a pause, a glance, and a line that felt more final than any farewell ever aired

BBC Breakfast hosts Sally Nugent and Jon Kay spoke with guests Georgie Maynard and Tom Riley on Tuesday’s show, announcing the pair had both been diagnosed with brain tumours

BBC Breakfast’s Sally Nugent and Jon Kay had a heart-to-heart with guests Georgie Maynard and Tom Riley on Tuesday’s show, revealing that both had been diagnosed with brain tumours.

Before chatting with their guests via video link, Jon shared, “Now, a new campaign group formed by patients, their families, and their advocates is urging the government to invest more in brain tumour research and improve access to clinical trials.”

Sally added, “More than 12,000 people are diagnosed each year with a primary brain tumour, including 900 children and young people.”

Jon continued, “They are the biggest cancer killer of children and adults under the age of 40 in the UK,” as Sally noted, “More than 5,400 people lose their lives to a brain tumour every year.”

Introducing their guests, Jon said, “We’re joined now by two of those campaigners, Georgie Maynard and Tom Riley, both of whom were diagnosed with brain tumours,” reports the Express.

Georgie told Jon and Sally she had 12-18 months to live(Image: BBC)

“Thank you so much for joining us this morning. It’s lovely to see the sun shining in central London. Georgie, would you like to start by explaining why this is so personal to you?”

Georgie then detailed how people are diagnosed with the illness and the prognosis doctors gave her.

Speaking about the significance of it all, Georgie told Jon, “Yes, it is. I mean, what I find extraordinary about the situation is that you’re diagnosed with a GBM or glioblastoma for me.

“You’re told how long you have left to live. You’re not given, you know, oh, ‘you could try this, try this, or try this’. You’re told your life expectancy. It is very short.

“Mine is 12 to 18 months to live for [what is] the average age, it can get to 5 percent, it can get to five years. So we have set this up today over time, but to drive more interest, awareness, and attention into brain cancer, because we desperately need it. We haven’t had any real change in our treatment for decades and decades, and we need that to change.”

Jon and Sally on BBC Breakfast(Image: BBC)

Addressing Tom, Sally continued, “And Tom, I know that your own diagnosis wasn’t straightforward. Just tell us what happened to you.”

Tom revealed, “Well, in my situation, I was initially diagnosed after having a seizure at work, which is where it was discovered, but not immediately. It was only actually after I was sent home with a suspected hematoma that, a day later, I was called back by the hospital to be admitted and told that I had a brain tumour.

“And obviously that was quite shocking, but great to absolutely know and to be able to deal with it. But I think what the challenge is, and is why we brought this group together to start this campaign, is that there are so many disparities across the country in different health units, different hospitals.

“And you know, one of the things that we really want to push for is having an equal amount of knowledge, a high amount, ideally, every single unit, so no one is being misdiagnosed when they first have to go into the hospital.”

He continued, “Something needs to change.”