Our darling son, Tom, died on the 10th December 2010. He fought so hard and so well for 16 months but his malignant brain tumour proved too devastating for even the bravest of boy pirates.
We are bereft and his sisters, Iona and Lisabel miss their brother every day. There is nothing any of us can do or say but in setting up Tom’s Gift we want to try and redress the balance and create something positive from our tragedy. Tom loved giving presents to his friends and family and the aim of our charity is to give joy to other children in his memory. Our first project is to build a pirate adventure playground in our local community, in Clyro, near Hay-on-Wye in the Welsh borders, where he spent most of his six years.
There is currently no playground in the area. We want to make the playground a community project – pooling the wide and various talents, from the expertise of local craftsmen to the imagination of Tom’s classmates. His big sister, Iona, will be involved in the planning, making sure whatever we build will suit the whole range of primary school ages. She has already fixed her sights on a pirate ship and a zip wire.
Our budget is £75,000 and thanks to the generosity of family, friends and fundraising events so far, we are well over half way to our goal of a sustainable, inspirational and beautiful community playground.
Once the playground is under construction we want Tom’s Gift to fund a gift to every child diagnosed with a brain tumour in the UK. As a family we know that the road they must undertake, whatever the outcome, is a hard one and we want to do something to remind them that they are not alone and that there is joy that can be had along the way. We will work with Birmingham Children’s Hospital, CLIC Sergeant and Macmillan to find the best way to distribute and deliver Tom’s Gift.
Please help us make our dream come true and celebrate six precious years of a remarkable and adored little boy.
Thank you
Corisande, Angus, Iona and Lisabel Grahame