When Billy was 2 and a half he was diagnosed with high risk neuroblastoma, a rare and aggressive form of childhood cancer.

He was admitted to ward E39 at Nottingham’s Queen’s Medical Centre in November 2024 and from then, as a family we spent night after night, day after day in hospital. Balancing caring for Billy in hospital and his brother Jack at home, putting on the bravest face we could to mask how we really felt inside, terrified and heartbroken.

I never thought I would ever say it, but in the children’s cancer ward we found comfort, hope, love and support. The foundation of that came from the play team who find a way of putting smiles on little faces through the toughest of times. Painting, play dough, games of bingo, little gifts, cuddles, visits from magicians and a hug when need it for parents. Sometimes after treatment Billy didn’t want to go home as he was so happy on the ward.

Billy’s treatment path would include chemotherapy, high dose chemotherapy, stem cell transplant, radiotherapy and immunotherapy. What the children have to go through is unbelievable, extreme sickness, injections, sedations, aesthetic, life threatening infections, daily cocktails of drugs, scans, being fed through an NG tube, having a central line fit so they can receive medicine- to name a few.

Our little boy sadly passed away 10 months after starting treatment. He fought the bravest of battles, with the biggest of smiles.

I would like to raise money to support the hospital play team and have a bravery box on ward E39 filled with little gifts for children to pick when they do something particularly brave, or just need a little help finding their smile. The money raised will continue to re-stock Super Billy’s Bravery Box