Paraic and George never forgotten

Hi there, my name is Anthony Cawley and I'm 13 years old. I am going to be doing a 15km run in County Mayo this August in memory of two very special people who have lost their lives too young to Glioblastoma brain tumours in 2022.

Our family is so lost without my mums brother Uncle Paraic #Forever58, and he leaves behind his wife Jackie, son James and daughter Eimear, our family will never recover from this loss. The second person I would like to do this run in memory of is a friend called George Fox, who is the year above me at school. George will be #Forever13 and our whole school is devastated at what has happened. I'm in the same year as his little sister and his family are also broken-hearted.

It made me think that I would like to do something myself to help raise money for Brain Tumour Research and stop this happening to other families. Please read on for both my Uncle Paraics and George's story.

Here's my Uncle Paraics story, in the words of his daughter Eimear...

"Paraic was originally admitted to hospital on 18th July 2021 with what we thought at the time was heat stroke. After scans and tests, it turned out he had a mass on his brain and needed surgery to investigate.

He had his surgery on 10th August 2021 for a biopsy of the mass. On 20th Aug 2021 we received the heartbreaking news that it was Grade 4 Glioblastoma brain tumour. While we were living in Ireland, my Dad was in hospital in England as he worked there. The next step was for us to arrange for him to come home to Ireland and start his treatment in Belfast.

He arrived back home in Ireland on 23rd August 2021, and met with the Doctors to discuss treatment. This is when we were told he had 12-15 months to live. Dad started his treatment which included many rounds of chemotherapy & six gruelling weeks of radiotherapy. He also had MRI scans along the way to keep an eye on the tumor. On 1st February 2022, we received the news that there was no significant change which felt like good news. Unfortunately another scan later on revealed that Dads tumours had spread to the other side of his brain.

On 12th October we received the heart-rending news that there was nothing more they could do for Dad, and that he had just weeks left with us. Sadly there is no cure for this disease & our Dad aged only 58, passed away peacefully on Wednesday, 2nd November 2022 after fighting for just over 15 months."

The story of George is just as heartbreaking, here is his sad story, told by his Mum Louise...

"George is the funny, kind, bright, cheeky, loyal Arsenal and animal-loving son of myself and Matt, and adored big brother of Issy and little brother to Jamie.

George wanted to be an architect when he grew up and have lots of dogs including a Golden Retriever.

George was just 12 years old when in April 2021 he developed headaches out of the blue and then started vomiting. After several visits to the GP, hospital and doctors an MRI on 29th April revealed a 6cm brain tumour. We were all absolutely terrified, and George must have been too, but he never showed it or complained, and dealt with his cancer diagnosis news with bravery and determination.

Following a 10-hour surgery to remove the tumour, myself and his Dad Matt were given the devastating news that George’s tumour was a Glioblastoma and that he had at most 12-15 months to live, whilst George sat outside the Doctors room waiting for us. We were told to go home and make memories.

During the 11 months that followed, George endured four major brain surgeries, various chemotherapies, six horrific weeks of daily radiotherapy, immunotherapy in Germany and a failed attempt to start a clinical trial in America.

George's school were amazing and everyone rallied round and fundraised to try and help George have a chance to live.

Sadly nothing could save him as there is no cure for this tumour and he passed away at home on 12th April 2022 with his heartbroken family holding him. George was just 13 years old when he lost his life, and every day more children lose their lives to brain tumours which are the biggest killing cancer of children and young adults.

Our family will simply never, ever recover from losing him, and we are so grateful to Anthony for raising both awareness and money for Brain Tumour Research."

If you can spare a few pounds then we would be so grateful, I would like to do whatever I can to help and to remember these two special people at the same time.

Anthony Cawley

Aged 13.

Do you want to join me in making a difference? I'm raising money in aid of Brain Tumour Research and every donation will help. Thank you in advance for your contribution to this cause that means so much to me.

More information about Brain Tumour Research: Brain Tumour Research is dedicated to raising funds for continuous and sustainable scientific research into brain tumours, and we are a leading voice calling for greater support and action for research into what scientists are calling the last battleground against cancer.