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
Snoop Dogg becomes co-owner and investor of Swansea football club saying it’s ‘an underdog just like me’
Police are taking no further action over Kneecap’s performance at Glastonbury.
Officers said they had investigated “comments about a forthcoming court case made during Kneecap’s performance” at the festival on 28 June.
However, after Crown Prosecution Service advice, they decided there is not enough evidence “to provide a realistic prospect of conviction for any offence”.
The Avon & Somerset force started investigating the Irish group’s show last month, as well as comments by punk-rap duo Bob Vylan.
It said they were looking at a possible public order incident.
Police said on Friday that the investigation into Bob Vylan’s performance was ongoing.
The London duo were widely criticised – and caused a BBC crisis – after leading on-stage chants of “death to the IDF” (Israel Defence Forces).
Kneecap’s Liam Og O Hannaidh appeared at Westminster Magistrates’ Court in June. Pic: PA
Kneecap posted a photograph on Instagram, which the group said was an email from police announcing the case was being dropped.
They said their packed Glastonbury gig was a “celebration of love and solidarity” and reporting used “wildly misleading headlines”.
Fears over what Kneecap might do or say during the performance had prompted the BBC not to show it live.
The group said: “Every single person who saw our set knew no law was broken, not even close… yet the police saw fit to publicly announce they were opening an investigation.”
“There is no public apology, they don’t send this to media or post it on police accounts,” they added.
The police statement on Friday said they had informed Kneecap of their decision to drop the case.
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One of the group’s members appeared in court in June charged with a terror offence.
Liam Og O hAnnaidh is accused of displaying a flag in support of Hezbollah, a proscribed organisation in the UK, at a gig last year.
He was released on unconditional bail ahead of a second court appearance in August.
Entertainment
Tomorrowland: ‘Devastating’ blaze destroys main stage at major festival – two days before it was due to begin
A huge fire has destroyed the main stage of a major festival in Belgium – two days before it was due to begin.
Tomorrowland is a dance music event as big as Glastonbury – and David Guetta was due to perform.
Footage showed flames and thick plumes of black smoke engulfing the stage and spreading to nearby woodland on Wednesday.
The fire gutted the main stage
Fire crews attempt to bring the blaze under control
The annual festival in the town of Boom, north of Brussels, is one of the biggest in Europe and attracts about 400,000 people over two consecutive weekends.
It is famous for its immersive and elaborate designs and attracts big names within dance music – including Guetta, best known for tracks When Love Takes Over and Titanium.
Dutch DJs Martin Garrix and Charlotte de Witte were also due to perform, along with the likes of Swedish House Mafia, Eric Prydz and Alok.
Black smoke could be seen rising into the sky
The festival’s website described the creative elements which went into the elaborate main stage.
The theme, described as Orbyz, was “set in a magical universe made entirely out of ice” and “full of mythical creatures”.
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Organisers said no one was injured in the blaze but confirmed “our beloved main stage has been severely damaged”, adding they were “devastated”.
Spokesperson Debby Wilmsen added: “We received some truly terrible news today. A fire broke out on the Tomorrowland site … and our main stage was essentially destroyed there, which is truly awful.
“That’s a stage that took years to build, with so much love and passion. So I think a lot of people are devastated.”
Spokesperson Debby Wilmsen told reporters ‘a lot of people are devastated’
Despite the fire, Tomorrowland organisers said they were still expecting 38,000 festivalgoers at DreamVille, the event’s campsite.
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