Tumour victim Amani Liaquat, who forged friendship The Wanted's Tom Parker, leaves £100k legacy

Tom Parker and Amani Liaquat struck up a friendship after both being diagnosed with the same type of brain tumour. Credit: Brain Tumour Research
Amani Liaquat with Tom Parker

The family of a woman who became friends with The Wanted's Tom Parker as they campaigned to fund brain tumour research have now raised £100,000 in her memory.

Amani Liaquat was diagnosed with a brain tumour in April 2020 and died in February, aged 23.

Since then her family has continued to fight, raising awareness and funding for research which they say the government should be providing.

Amani died five days after she was awarded her Masters degree in the hospital bed set up for her at home in Luton. It came two years after she was diagnosed with a brain tumour known as glioblastoma multiform, or GBM.

Amani Liaquat was awarded her master's degree at home

Yasmin Stannard, Amani's mother, said: "It's devastating to see the way it strips them of everything that they once were."

Her father Khuram Liaquat added: "It changes the individual's personality.

"It changes their ability to walk and move, it affected her vision, it affected her short term memory. You are seeing your loved one slowly die in front of you."

The tumour was discovered after Amani suffered a seizure on her 22nd birthday. She was rushed to hospital but, with Covid restrictions in place, she was forced to undergo the tests alone.

Despite chemotherapy and radiotherapy, the tumour continued to grow.

Amani Liaquat

Mr Liaquat said: "The treatment we get in the UK is nowhere near the treatment you can get in the US or even in Europe, so families such as ours are left with no option."

They decided to use drugs still being trialled and to find £1,000 a week to pay for them. With the help of donations from the public, Amani's father flew to Germany to buy them.

Amani lent her voice to a campaign for Brain Tumour Research and recorded a podcast with Tom Parker of the Wanted who was also receiving treatment for a brain tumour. He died in March.

Mr Liaquat said: "Without funding we are not going to get any closer to a cure."

To date, her family have raised almost £100,000.

Ms Stannard said "It shouldn't be up to families to jump out of planes to fund it when they are suffering something so difficult already - but if they government aren't doing it we feel like we have to."

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