‘We cannot let Faye’s life end here’: The campaign to save a young star fighting a rare brain tumour
When the fatigue set in and the sensation in parts of her left side started flickering away, Faye Fantarrow thought she knew what was coming. At 20, the leukaemia she had survived twice as a child had returned for a third time, she feared.
“Just” the leukaemia, she says, knowing cancer is never a “just”. But having survived it twice before, at least she knew what to expect. Or thought she did.
Blood tests, however, came back normal, she says. No leukaemia. It was not until she had scans and eventually a biopsy that doctors were able to give her a diagnosis: an aggressive glioma brain tumour, believed to be an incredibly rare consequence of previous radiotherapy she had undergone as a teenager.
This was back in August. Since then Faye, from Sunderland, has had further radiotherapy to try and shrink several growths. But there is no cure in the UK.
An up-and-coming singer and musician, spotted on social media and subsequently signed by Eurythmics star Dave Stewart earlier in 2022, she was made aware of a lifeline – a trial at the City of Hope hospital in the city of Duarte in Los Angeles County, California; a complex treatment, at a total cost of £450,000.
Now, her friends and family, as well as other musicians, are doing everything possible to try to raise the money. Three-and-a-half weeks since a fundraising page was set up, donations have reached just over £121,000. A huge amount, but there is still a way to go.
“We cannot let Faye’s life end here,” her sister Abigail says on the fundraising webpage. “She is the brightest star you could ever find on the darkest night, she is strong, independent and talented… please donate… please help to help Faye fight.”
“It’s daunting but the security blanket I have around me because of the people who are putting money in and just not giving up on me – it doesn’t seem as daunting,” says Faye.
The fight is now on to raise the money for treatment in California.
Surviving leukaemia
Faye was just eight when she was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, a form of blood cancer, for the first time. She underwent two-and-a-half years of chemotherapy that took away her hair and mobility, but as a child, she says a lack of proper awareness cushioned her from the situation, making her illness in some ways harder for her family.
And in a strange way, her cancer led to her life changing in a positive way; given a Brave Heart award for children facing illness or adversity, she chose an acoustic guitar, paving the way for her career as a singer-songwriter.
The leukaemia returned when she was 13 and this time, she would have to have a bone marrow transplant – a long, difficult process, but one she came through once again.
‘And then Mr Dave Stewart got in touch…’
Faye signed to Dave Stewart’s Bay Street Records label earlier in 2022
Aged 15, Faye started playing the guitar seriously and began writing her own songs the following year. Aged 17, her music was played by BBC Introducing for the first time. And in 2021, she was named the winner of the Alan Hull award for songwriting – a prize given annually in the North East in memory of the Lindisfarne founder.
After years of cancer dominating her life, Faye was well and her music career was taking off. “And then Mr Dave Stewart got in touch,” she says.
Having first followed her on Instagram, Stewart later messaged the singer and began mentoring her, at first adding some production work to her demos remotely, then inviting her to record with him in London. Then they went to the Bahamas to record an EP.
“Things were going so well… and then I decided to mess everything up,” Faye jokes, referring to the tumour. But this is the hardest thing about being diagnosed now, she says. “I’m more aware of it now and obviously it’s affected my career as well. I don’t want this to undermine my career and everything I’ve worked to build.”
‘She’s a national treasure already’
Stewart and his Eurythmics bandmate Annie Lennox have both donated: Pic: AP/Chris Pizzello
Stewart, also from Sunderland, has shared Faye’s story, calling her “an amazing young artist”. He has donated £50,000, and his Eurythmics bandmate Annie Lennox has also donated £10,000.
“Faye is a brilliant young artist, a singer-songwriter in a class of her own,” Stewart told Sky News. “Unique writers like Faye come few and far between and I knew the minute I heard her voice she was extraordinary.
“We spent an amazing time together recording her new EP this summer only to be hit with this devastating news no more than a few weeks after we finished recording.
“I cannot express enough how much I believe in Faye and her talents as a singer and performer, but it’s her astute observations of the world around her put in the words that makes me believe she deserves to be heard for a long, long time.
“At only 20 years old she’s a national treasure in my mind already and hopefully she will become one in yours, too.”
‘I can look towards a future’
Faye now suffers from seizures as a result of her tumours. She says she has good days and bad days. But she remains upbeat, saying she feels “euphoric” thinking about performing again following treatment in California; she is not thinking of it as a case of if, but when.
The treatment she needs is called CAR T-cell therapy, which is a type of immunotherapy – a “complex and specialist treatment”, according to Cancer Research UK. T cells are a type of white blood cell.
“With this treatment, a specialist collects and makes a small change to your T cells. After a few weeks, you have a drip containing these cells back into your bloodstream. The CAR T-cells then recognise and attack the cancer cells,” the charity says on its website.
“It is available as a possible treatment for some children with leukaemia and some adults with lymphoma. People with other types of cancer might have it as part of a clinical trial.”
Faye says the NHS has been “amazing” so far, but now she needs to get to the US.
“If anybody can give whatever they can, I’m eternally grateful for that,” she says. “I’m aware of the current climate… so even if it’s just sharing the story, talking about it. I’m fortunate enough that I have this option and people are getting behind me, that I can look towards a future. Even if it’s just talking about it, I can’t express the gratitude for that alone.”
But Faye’s mum puts it simply. “£450,000 seemed an insurmountable amount. But then I thought, well, if we can reach 450,000 people and they all just give a pound, then we can do it. And that’s all we ask. If someone can give a pound, then we can do it.”
You can donate to the Fight For Faye fundraiser here.
The hotly anticipated Spotify Wrapped is revealing our top tracks, artists and albums for 2025.
But how does the streaming service calculate personalised summaries of users’ listening habits and rank the UK’s hottest artists?
Here’s a look at how your data is used.
The platform describes the annual statistics as “a chance to look back on your year in sound”.
It says data is captured between January and mid-November on every account, although it mostly excludes anything streamed in private mode. (Don’t worry, your passion for the Spice Girls can be kept secret.)
Wrapped presents personalised listening statistics, which Spotify calls the “real story of your year of listening”, alongside global figures for comparison.
The streaming service says Minutes Listened reflects the actual time spent listening to audio on the platform.
Once a user streams at least 30 tracks, Spotify generates a list of Your Top Songs. Similarly, Your Top Artists ranks artists based on total minutes listening to a particular performer.
Other metrics identify the top genres users have played, as well as podcasts and audiobooks ranked by total minutes listened. And if you’ve listened to at least 70% of tracks on a record, you’ll see top albums too.
Spotify also creates Your Listening Age, a guesstimate of your age based on the era of the music “you feel most connected to”.
The streaming service says the statistic is calculated using a five-year span of music which users engaged with more than other listeners of a similar age.
Spotify has been summing up 2025’s most listened to tracks. Pic: Spotify
Swift vs Bunny
Pop superstar Taylor Swift has been named the UK’s most-streamed artist on Spotify for the third year in a row.
But she dropped out of the top spot in the global rankings, coming second to Puerto Rican superstar Bad Bunny, who secured more than 19.8 billion streams. Third was The Weeknd, followed by Drake and Billie Eilish.
Bad Bunny’s LP Debi Tirar Mas Fotos was the most listened-to album worldwide.
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Spotify revealed Drake was the UK’s second most-listened to artist, followed by Sabrina Carpenter in third, The Weeknd in fourth, and Billie Eilish in fifth.
Despite being the most listened-to artist, Swift failed to break into the UK’s top five most listened-to songs and albums of the year.
Alex Warren’s Ordinary was the most-streamed song, and Short ‘N’ Sweet, released by Carpenter last year, the top album.
A doctor who pleaded guilty to illegally supplying ketamine to Matthew Perry in the weeks before the star’s death has been jailed for two-and-a-half years.
Salvador Plasencia, who operated an urgent-care clinic outside Los Angeles, is the first of five people to be sentenced in connection with the death of the Friends actor. Perry was found drowned in the hot tub at his home after taking ketamine in October 2023.
“You and others helped Mr Perry on the road to such an ending by continuing to feed his ketamine addiction,” Judge Sherilyn Peace Garnett told Plasencia as she handed down the sentence. “You exploited Mr Perry’s addiction for your own profit.”
Matthew Perry died in 2023. Pic: Reuters
During the hearing, Plasencia broke into tears as he spoke about the day he would have to tell his now two-year-old son “about the time I didn’t protect another mother’s son”. Apologising directly to Perry’s family, he said: “I should have protected him.”
The doctor’s mother cried loudly in the courtroom as he was led out in handcuffs.
Ahead of the sentencing, Perry’s mother Suzanne Perry and stepfather Keith Morrison described those involved in supplying ketamine to the star illegally as “jackals”, and said they believed Plasencia to be “among the most culpable of all“.
The actor had been taking ketamine legally as a treatment for depression, but started seeking more of the drug and taking it unsupervised in the weeks before his death, acquiring it illegally from different sources.
Plasencia, 44, did not supply the dose that killed the actor, but had been distributing the surgical anesthetic to him in the weeks beforehand.
He initially denied the charges against him but changed his plea earlier this year, admitting four counts of distribution. He could have faced up to 40 years in prison had he been convicted at trial.
Plasencia was surrounded by photographers as he made his way into court. Pic: Reuters/ Mike Blake
Doctor ‘fed on vulnerability’
Court documents showed details of a text message Plasencia sent to another doctor, who is also due to be sentenced, saying: “I wonder how much this moron will pay.”
“Rather than do what was best for Mr Perry – someone who had struggled with addiction for most of his life – [Plasencia] sought to exploit Perry’s medical vulnerability for profit,” the prosecution said in its sentencing memo.
Known as “Dr P”, Plasencia was introduced to Perry by one of his own patients on 30 September 2023, prosecutors said. This patient said the actor was a “high profile person” who was willing to pay “cash and lots of thousands” for ketamine treatment, and the doctor was “motivated by the promise of a payday”.
Plasencia’s lawyers admitted his behaviour was “reckless” and said it was “the biggest mistake” of his life.
“Remorse cannot begin to capture the pain, regret and shame that Mr Plasencia feels for the tragedy that unfolded and that he failed to prevent,” they said.
Star’s family share emotional statements
Suzanne Perry and Keith Morrison were in court for the hearing. Pic: Reuters/ Mike Blake
During the hearing, Perry’s mother Suzanne addressed the court to talk about everything he had overcome in his life.
“I used to think he couldn’t die,” she said, supported by her husband.
“You called him a ‘moron’,” she said to Plasencia. “There is nothing moronic about that man.”
In victim impact statements submitted to court, she and her husband said Plasencia’s actions were not the result of “one very bad decision” or done “in the heat of passion”, and nor was he a “bad to the bone” drug dealer.
They added: “No one alive and in touch with the world at all could have been unaware of Matthew’s struggles. But this doctor conspired to break his most important vows, repeatedly, sneaked through the night to meet his victim in secret. For what, a few thousand dollars? So he could feed on the vulnerability of our son.”
Perry appeared in Friends: The Reunion alongside his former co-stars in 2021. Pic: Sky/ Warner Media/ HBO
“The world mourns my brother,” Perry’s half-sister Madeleine Morrison said. “He was everyone’s favourite friend.”
Perry’s father John and stepmother Debbie had called for a lengthy sentence, and said Plasencia’s actions had “devastated” their family.
“How long did you possibly see supplying Matthew countless doses without his death to eventually follow?” they asked. “Did you care? Did you think?”
Read more:
The drug network exposed by Perry’s death
Obituary: The one who made everyone laugh
Matthew Perry: A life in pictures
As well as the prison sentence, Judge Sherilyn Peace Garnett handed down two years of probation to Plasencia.
The other four people charged in connection with Perry’s death have also accepted plea deals and are due to be sentenced over the next few months.
They are: dealer Jasveen Sangha, also known as “the Ketamine Queen”, Perry’s assistant Kenneth Iwamasa, another doctor, Mark Chavez, and Erik Fleming, an associate of the actor.
Tributes were left in LA and New York following the actor’s death. Pic: Reuters
Perry had struggled with addiction for years, dating back to his time on Friends, when he became one of the biggest stars of his generation playing Chandler Bing.
He starred alongside Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc and David Schwimmer for 10 seasons, from 1994 to 2004, and appeared in the reunion show in 2021.
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