Matthew’s Story

Team fundraiser

Philippa Croot and Katie Croot are organizing this fundraiser on behalf of Hollie croot.

Donation protected

Hi, my name is Philippa and my beloved brother passed away on Tuesday 12th September 2023. I’m hoping to raise money towards his funeral to give him a send off he deserves.

Matthew is a 26 year old with the kindest of hearts, he loves his nieces and nephew more than anything. He loved anime, marvel but most of all Naruto. He enjoyed making TikToks and videos, going on days out and spending time with family. He never wanted any fuss, he always had the sweetest side smile and the softest hands ever!

Matthew was born with a very rare condition at the time called Congenital Melanocytic Nevi, he also had epilepsy and learning difficulties. He spent a lot of his childhood at Great Ormond Street having multiple operations, laser treatment, new drugs, the lot. Initially the doctors said Matthew wouldn’t live to the age of 13 but he defied all the odds and pushed through that and experienced much more life. There were challenges throughout his teenage and early 20s but the fighter Matthew is, was and has always been he took everything in his path with a very chilled attitude.

January 2022 he started to experience seizures again and despite notifying hospitals they just changed his medication for his epilepsy. Fast forward October 2022 after a scan we received the news that Matthew had a brain tumour called brain metastases which is a type of cancer that spreads all over the body, in Matthew’s case this spread quickly. He fought it so hard going through chemotherapy, so many scans, injections, drugs, appointments and the list goes on.

Over the months we noticed Matthew getting worse with the cancer taking away our brothers personality, happiness and life.

August 2023 Matthew’s condition took a turn for the worst and deterioration went fast with seizures, sickness, memory loss and so on. This was so so heartbreaking to see for us as a family, knowing our son, brother and uncle was fighting a losing battle.

Thursday 7th September Matthew was admitted to Cransley Hospice with the hope this would only be a temporary thing but unfortunately things took a turn for the worst and Matthew experienced a seizure that he never came out of, although his body fought so hard for many hours Matthew lost the battle and was finally out of pain on Tuesday 12th September 2023 with all of his family there through it all until the very end.

Matthew never got the chance to experience love, a family of his own or growing old. He was too young and he’s left such a huge hole in all of our hearts. Our parents should have never needed to say goodbye to their son this soon.

If you and your family are able to donate anything even the smallest amount we would be so grateful. We would love to give Matthew the best send off.

we always done a big F You to cancer!