Campaign for Owain’s Law
Standardise tissue freezing to give every brain cancer patient access to modern treatments and advanced research
The Campaign for Owain’s Law was launched in 2025 by Ellie James, whose husband Owain tragically died a year earlier from brain cancer. Owain, like so many patients in the UK, was deprived full access to potentially life-saving treatments and the most advanced forms of diagnostics and research, simply because his brain tissue was not stored in the correct way.
Ellie’s campaign is calling for tissue freezing - the ‘gold standard’ way to store patient tissue - to be made standard so that every patient can access the newest treatments, advanced diagnostics and cutting-edge research.
The problem: a postcode lottery in brain cancer care
When people have brain surgery for cancer, some of their tumour is removed for diagnosis, further testing, treatment and research. But across the NHS, this tissue is usually stored in the wrong way. In many hospitals it is preserved using outdated methods that damage DNA, meaning it cannot be used for modern diagnostics, genome testing, or cutting-edge treatments.
As a result, whether a patient can access the most advanced therapies often depends not on their clinical need, but on where they live and where they happen to be treated.
What the campaign is calling for
The Campaign for Owain’s Law wants tissue freezing to become standard practice for every brain cancer patient in the UK. Every suitable tumour sample should be flash-frozen after surgery, in line with national clinical guidelines, so all patients can access modern medicine and world-leading research.
Owain’s Law would also give patients real control over their tissue, guaranteeing informed consent and improving patient awareness of how tissue is stored, and how it is likely to be used.
About the campaign
The campaign was launched in 2025 by Ellie James after the death of her husband Owain from brain cancer. Only a tiny fraction of Owain’s tumour was frozen; that small sample enabled a personalised vaccine that extended his life by months – until his samples of frozen tissue ran out. The rest of his tissue, stored differently, could not be used.
Ellie is now fighting so no other family faces the same injustice, and so every brain cancer patient in the UK gets a fair chance at the best treatments available.
Why this matters
Frozen tissue keeps cancer DNA intact. That makes it essential for personalised immunotherapy, more precise forms of whole genome sequencing, and research that could lead to new treatments. Without it, opportunities for better care, clearer diagnoses, and breakthroughs for future patients are being lost every day.
The current situation in the UK
In the UK the chances of surviving brain cancer have barely improved in four decades, as basic treatment methods remain largely the same. Tissue freezing is the crucial building block for progress: by making sure every Trust and cancer centre in the UK can freeze every patient sample, and by ensuring patients are kept fully informed and in control of this process, we can give every patient a fighting chance.
