MY SON WAS A PALLBEARER

I'm not one for recognising challenging days but today my son ,three other school colleagues and two surviving brothers bore their friend and brother Josh Beresford-Smart at his funeral after his tragic death from diffuse midline glioma(DMG) a cruel brain tumour with almost zero survivability. Josh was just 18.

This was a tremendously sad day and not one we expect children still in their teens to face. There have been huge leaps in the treatment of many other cancers but very little can be done to treat this condition. Neil Armstrong lost his daughter to a similar condition in 1962 and since that time there has been no development on treatments let alone a cure. As such the equivalent of a full classroom of children die from this condition in the UK year after year while there are no meaningful advances in treatment options and no current UK trials.

The majority of fund-raising is done by parents and family-led charities. While there are ongoing efforts to gain centralised government funding as individuals we can still support this cause. My son and myself, along with members of Josh's family will be running for Josh in the 2021 London Landmarks Half Marathon to be run in August. Please click on the link below if you would like to contribute where St. James's Place has also kindly agreed to partial matching. All funds raised by ourselves will be passed to the Brain Tumour Charity.

Josh's family and other families who have lost a child to this horrendous disease continue to fight for a better outcome for future generations and they deserve their voice be heard.