Comedian Peter Kay made a touching pledge at the opening night of his Manchester show.
Laura Nuttall was told she had only 12 months to live after being diagnosed with Glioblastoma Multiforme – an aggressive and incurable form of brain cancer – after a routine eye test in 2018. The 23-year-old went on to complete a "bucket list" of goals that included graduating, presenting the BBC weather forecast and raising thousands for brain cancer charities.
She went fishing with Paul Whitehouse and Bob Mortimer, met Johnny Marr and watched Fleabag being performed live on stage. In 2021, comedian Peter Kay came out of retirement to raise money for her treatment, and hosted two live Q&As in her honour.
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Peter's two sold-out Q&A sessions at the 3,500-capacity Manchester Apollo raised enough money for Laura to travel to Germany for specialist treatment that was unavailable in the UK. Last night, at his Manchester AO Arena show, the comedian once again paid tribute to the Lancashire woman, who died in May 2023.
As he kicked off the run last night, the Phoenix Nights star announced that a portion of the ticket sales would be donated to a charity set up in memory of Laura Nuttall.
Following her cancer diagnosis, Laura had to drop out of university in London and was forced to put her life on hold while she underwent a craniotomy to remove the largest of eight tumours. She then started a gruelling programme of radiotherapy and chemotherapy before her family discovered an innovative new treatment was available in Germany.
With the help of donations from friends, family and an online fundraiser, Laura was able to start the immunotherapy. She travelled to Cologne every six weeks for the treatment, which was made even more difficult by coronavirus restrictions. However, she responded so well that she was able to restart her studies at The University of Manchester and graduated from her politics, philosophy and economics degree last summer.
Her proud mum Nicola said at the time that seeing her graduate was incredible after being told Laura only had a life expectancy of around a year and wouldn’t be going back to university at all, and that it was a real celebration of her tenacity.
Laura, from Barrowford in Lancashire, continued raising money and awareness for brain charities, as well as promoting the research being undertaken at The University of Manchester’s Geoffrey Jefferson Brain Research Centre.
Sadly, her cancer progressed quickly last autumn, and she died in May this year – five years after her initial 12-month prognosis.
In a tweet, Nicola announced: "I'm heartbroken to share the news that we lost our beautiful Laura in the early hours of this morning. She was fierce and tenacious to the end and it was truly the honour of my life to be her mum. We are devastated at the thought of life without our girl, she was a force of nature."
Sharing a picture of her family at Peter Kay's show last night, she said: "Such a brilliant night watching Peter Kay in Manchester, we laughed till our faces hurt & my goodness we needed it!
"Couldn’t have been more surprised when he mentioned Laura and her foundation. Thank you Peter you are truly a legend."
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