Faye Fantarrow: Singer preparing to travel to US to begin potentially life-saving brain tumour treatment
Up-and-coming singer Faye Fantarrow is set to travel to California in the New Year to begin a pioneering and potentially life-saving treatment for a brain tumour.
The 20-year-old musician, from Sunderland, was diagnosed with an aggressive glioma tumour in August – having already survived leukaemia twice during her childhood.
While Faye has undergone radiotherapy in the UK, there is no cure here, and family and friends have been fundraising to collect £450,000 to cover the cost of a type of immunotherapy called CAR T-cell therapy and associated treatment in America.
After being signed by Eurythmics star Dave Stewart to his label just a few months before her diagnosis, both he and his bandmate Annie Lennox donated and the fundraising pot now stands at more than £200,000.
It means Faye has enough to cover the initial costs and is due to fly out to have cells collected at the City of Hope hospital in Duarte, Los Angeles County, early in January. However, she needs to keep fundraising to cover the remaining costs for the full process.
She will spend two weeks in the US before flying back to the UK to perform a gig at the end of the month – her first since her diagnosis.
“I’m really looking forward to having the initial cell collection to get the ball rolling,” she told Sky News. “For me personally, having the gig planned brings a sense of normality that I’ve been seeking for a long time.
“I’m very optimistic, but it’s also overwhelming. I’m looking forward to [beginning the treatment process] but it’s daunting too as I’ve been having this conversation for so long now. My overriding emotion right now though is feeling grateful, because without the donations and all the support I’ve had, this initial stage wouldn’t have been attainable.”
Faye finished her radiotherapy in October and says her consultant is pleased with its progress so far in keeping the growth of her tumours at bay.
Read more:
‘We cannot let Faye’s life end here’
What is CAR T-cell therapy?
The singer says the first stage of the US process in January will be to collect cells. After that, her tumours will be monitored in the UK before she returns to California for the full treatment.
CAR T-cell therapy is 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.
Faye is hoping the radiotherapy treatment will have done enough to keep her tumours from growing until she can raise the full amount needed.
After finishing the course, she says she is generally feeling better and has increased energy, although still has “days of ups and downs”. However, she now feels well enough to perform once again and is looking forward to getting on stage.
“This will be the first gig since all this happened,” she said. “I think I feel well enough in myself now, and the cell collection I’m hoping will not be too intrusive.
“I feel it’s important to get on stage and pay forward my gratitude. I’m playing it as a kind of promise – this is what’s to come, something to look forward to in terms of my career.”
‘I cannot express how much I believe in Faye’
Faye is signed to Dave Stewart’s Bay Street Records label
Faye has been writing songs since she was a teenager, taking up the guitar after having a bone marrow transplant following her second leukaemia diagnosis.
The glioma tumour is believed to be a rare consequence of her previous cancer treatment.
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 – and she signed to Stewart’s Bay Street Records the following year.
“Faye is a brilliant young artist, a singer-songwriter in a class of her own,” Stewart previously 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.”
The Faye Fantarrow & Friends gig will be held at The Fire Station in Sunderland on Friday 27 January. You can donate to the Fight For Faye fundraiser here.
Entertainment
‘We watched Gavin And Stacey on repeat’: Richard E Grant goes on ’emotional’ tour in memory of his late wife
Prosecutors and defence lawyers have rested their cases in the sex-trafficking trial of Sean “Diddy” Combs, bringing more than six weeks of testimony against the hip-hop mogul to a close.
The high-profile trial has heard from more than 30 witnesses, including the rapper’s ex-girlfriend Cassie Ventura, as well as former employees of his company Bad Boy Entertainment, male escorts, law enforcement officers and hotel staff.
But one person jurors won’t hear from is Combs himself.
Confirming this to Judge Arun Subramanian, the rapper said he had discussed the issue of testifying “thoroughly” with his team and made the decision not to give evidence. He also thanked the judge and told him he was doing an “excellent job”.
Cassie Ventura was heavily pregnant when she testified at the start of the trial. Pic: Jane Rosenberg/ Reuters
After the prosecution rested, the defence team moved for the judge to acquit the 55-year-old – a fairly standard move – saying attorneys for the government had not provided evidence to prove any of the charges filed.
They then presented a brief case themselves, submitting more text messages as evidence to show Combs and his girlfriends were in loving, consensual relationships, and making a few stipulations about testimony, but calling no witnesses. This lasted for less than an hour.
They have previously conceded Combs has been violent in the past, something he is “not proud” of, but said this did not make him a sex trafficker.
Combs has remained in jail without bail since he was arrested in New York in September last year.
Throughout the trial, defence lawyers have made their case for exoneration through their questioning of witnesses called by the prosecution, including several who gave evidence reluctantly or after they were granted immunity to testify.
Prosecutors argue Combs coerced and forced Cassie and another former girlfriend, who testified under the pseudonym Jane, into “freak off” sex sessions with male escorts, and used his business empire to facilitate these, as well as drug use, and cover up bad behaviour.
Jurors have seen several clips of explicit footage. Pic: Jane Rosenberg/ Reuters
During the first week of the trial, Cassie, 38, spent four days giving evidence. Heavily pregnant at the time, she told jurors she felt pressured to take part in hundreds of “freak offs” with male sex workers as Combs watched.
She told the court they became so frequent during their relationship, which began in 2007 and ended in 2018, that they were “like a job”, and she had barely any time for her own career.
The singer and musician gave birth two weeks after her testimony, her friend and former stylist confirmed as he gave evidence himself in court.
Jane testified for six days about similar sexual performances, which Combs referred to as “hotel nights”, “wild king nights” or “debauchery” with her, the court heard. Like Cassie, she said she felt coerced into engaging in them because she loved the music star and wanted to please him.
Jane dated Combs on and off from early 2021 to his arrest in 2024.
Jurors have been shown several recordings of these sex sessions, lasting more than 40 minutes in total. The footage was shown on monitors and jurors used headphones, keeping it private from the media and members of the public in court.
In her opening statement, defence lawyer Teny Geragos called the videos “powerful evidence that the sexual conduct in this case was consensual and not based on coercion”.
Read more:
Everything you need to know about the trial
The rise and fall of Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs
What we learned from Cassie’s testimony
The trial also heard from Mia, another alleged victim who testified under a pseudonym. Mia was a former employee of Combs, who told the court he sexually assaulted her on several occasions in the years she worked for him.
She had never told anyone about the alleged abuse until the investigation into Combs, she said, telling the court she was ashamed. “I was going to die with this,” she said, becoming tearful on the stand. “I didn’t want anyone to know ever.”
The trial has been eventful, with one juror dismissed and replaced by an alternate after it emerged he had given conflicting evidence about where he lives. The judge said he had “serious concerns” that not being truthful about this could potentially mean he wanted to be on the jury for a particular reason.
And at one point, Combs was warned by the judge for nodding enthusiastically toward jurors during a section of cross-examination by his lawyers. The judge said he could be excluded from the trial if it happened again.
Court is not in session on Wednesday. The trial continues on Thursday, when closing statements from the legal teams will begin.
Former Sky News presenter Dermot Murnaghan has been diagnosed with prostate cancer.
The 67-year-old announced his diagnosis on social media, saying it was one of stage four “advanced” cancer.
He said he was “fortunate to have a simply outstanding medical team” looking after him that was “administering the best possible care with expertise, compassion and sensitivity”.
“I’m responding positively to their excellent treatment, and feeling well,” he added.
“I’m blessed to be fortified by the monumental love and support of my wife, family and close friends.
“Needless to say, my message to all men over 50, in high risk groups, or displaying symptoms, is get yourself tested and campaign for routine prostate screening by the NHS.
“Early detection is crucial. And be aware, this disease can sometimes progress rapidly without obvious symptoms.”
Murnaghan also presented on BBC News and ITV News
Murnaghan said he would be taking part in Sir Chris Hoy’s charity bike ride in Glasgow in September, which aims to “shine a spotlight” on stage four cancer.
Sir Chris was himself diagnosed with stage four prostate cancer in September 2023.
Advanced prostate cancer is when the cancer cells have spread to other parts of the body, according to Macmillan Cancer Support.
Murnaghan is a familiar face to Sky News viewers as one of its main presenters from 2007 until 2023.
In September 2022, he announced the death of the late Queen Elizabeth II on the channel.
Read more from Sky News:
Bride ‘shot dead on wedding day in France’
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Before joining Sky, he presented ITV’s News At Ten and the BBC Ten O’Clock News – now known as BBC News At Ten – as well as Channel 4 News.
Murnaghan also presented quiz show Eggheads on BBC Two for 11 years.
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