Plaid Cymru and Reform Wales include manifesto commitments, while Conservatives and Liberal Democrats signal support ahead of the 2026 Senedd election.
SUPPORT grows for campaign inspired by Owain James, who died aged 36 after frozen tumour tissue used for personalised treatment ran out
Four Welsh political parties have voiced support for Owain’s Law ahead of the 2026 Senedd election, as campaigners call for a Wales-wide requirement to freeze brain tumour tissue after surgery to improve access to modern treatments.
Plaid Cymru and Reform Wales have both included commitments linked to the campaign in their published election manifestos. The Welsh Conservatives have pledged a Cancer Treatments Fund which would include therapies made possible through frozen tumour tissue, while the Welsh Liberal Democrats have expressed public support at a Senedd event and in online statements.
Campaigners say the cross-party backing marks a significant shift in momentum as the Owain’s Law petition approaches 50,000 signatures. The petition currently stands at 46,378, with organisers aiming to reach 100,000 signatures by 26 June 2026, the second anniversary of Owain James’ death.
Campaign inspired by brain cancer patient
Owain’s Law is named after Owain James, who was diagnosed with grade 4 glioblastoma in September 2022 aged 34.
His family say they were shocked to discover that treatment options for brain cancer have barely advanced in decades, with Owain receiving almost the same standard care his grandfather had been given in the 1990s.
Owain and his wife Ellie later pursued a personalised cancer vaccine made from a patient’s own tumour tissue. However, only 1cm of Owain’s tumour had been flash frozen during surgery, which allowed three rounds of personalised immunotherapy. Campaigners say this led to nine months of complete tumour regression and gave Owain a period of relatively normal life.
When the frozen tissue ran out, the treatment could not continue. The remaining tumour tissue had been preserved in paraffin wax, which campaigners say made it unusable for further personalised vaccine treatment.
Owain died on 26 June 2024 aged 36.
Ellie James, who now leads the campaign, said the family had not been told that freezing more tumour tissue was an option.
“Owain’s life was extended because a tiny fraction of his tumour was frozen,” she said. “When that tissue ran out, his options ran out with it. We were never told we could ask for more to be preserved.”
What the parties have said
Plaid Cymru’s 2026 Senedd manifesto includes a commitment to:
“Strengthen legal rules around patient consent for brain tumour surgery and the storage of brain tumour tissue.”
Reform Wales has pledged to introduce a Wales-wide standard requiring health boards to freeze suitable brain tumour tissue following surgery, with informed patient consent, describing the current situation as a “postcode lottery”.
The Welsh Conservatives have not made a specific manifesto commitment but have pledged to create a Cancer Treatments Fund. In a letter to Ellie James, Conservative leader Darren Millar MS said the fund would allow doctors to access “innovative, life-saving treatments for cancer”, including bespoke treatments made possible through frozen tissue.
Welsh Liberal Democrat leader Jane Dodds MS backed the campaign at a Senedd event, saying the cost would be small and the change straightforward.
“This isn’t a big ask. It’s simple, straightforward and it should happen,” she said.
She later posted online that she supported the campaign for “fair, consistent access to life-saving tissue preservation across Wales”.
Calls for a legal requirement
Campaigners argue that tissue preservation practices vary widely across NHS Trusts and that many hospitals still rely on formalin and paraffin wax preservation, which can damage DNA and RNA and limit the tissue’s use in modern personalised medicine, including immunotherapy and genome sequencing.
The campaign points to recommendations from medical bodies calling for routine freezing of tumour samples as part of standard procedure.
Ellie James said: “The UK cannot deliver 21st-century cancer care with 20th-century tumour tissue practices. It is your tissue and your life.”
Petition target set for 2026
Campaign organisers say that equipping NHS Trusts with sufficient freezing capacity would cost between £250,000 and £400,000 nationally, and argue Wales could implement the approach quickly because Cardiff already has the capacity to cover the country.
The Owain’s Law petition is aiming to reach 100,000 signatures by June 2026 to force further debate and political action.
The petition can be signed at: https://c.org/4L2SmwKFKK
