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. Work is now starting on creating this. Having asked the children at Clyro School for ideas, a wonderful plan has emerged which we can all watch take shape over the coming weeks.
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.
We are now fundraising for research into childhood brain tumours and are delighted to say that we have already raisied over £100,000 towards this project. With the help of specialised clinicians we will select projects to fund - looking for cures and new approaches to medulloblastoma - the most common malignant childhood brain tumour in the UK.
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