A schoolboy dying from a brain tumour has stunned his family with his bravery after responding to his terminal condition by saying: ‘You can’t win them all.’
Sometimes it’s nice to see an inspirational young person in the news, combating the stereotype that we’re all horrible yobs who spend our time smoking and frightening old women and don’t give a damn about the future. However, sometimes it’s awful, and you find yourself wishing that the young person you’re reading about had no reason to be in the newspaper. This is one of those times.
This young man is sixteen years old and he’s had a brain tumour for the past five years. They thought he was recovering, but he relapsed recently and it is terminal – he has a matter of weeks to live, but he’s bravely responded by refusing treatment and saying “You can’t win them all”. It’s an unimaginable situation to be in at any age, but at sixteen? It’s a reflection on his incredibly mature attitude, because I have no idea what I’d do in that situation, but I doubt I’d be as accepting of it.
His aim now is to make it to his school prom on the 28th of June, but they are unsure as to how many weeks he may have left to live. I really hope every effort is made – even if they have to bring the prom forwards! – to allow him to go to his prom, and I also urge all of you to look at HeadSmart, a movement started by the Samantha Dickinson Brain Tumour Trust, to encourage faster diagnosis of brain tumours – http://www.headsmart.org.uk/home/
the life of a moomin 