'Our superpower is love': Fundraising challenge in memory of brave young Ben
A father who lost his son to a brain tumour is cycling hundreds of miles for the hospice that looked after the youngster in his final days.
Sam Williams, along with his father Hugh, who is approaching his 70th birthday, and his older brother Richard, are riding from Edinburgh to John O’Groats with two family friends, to raise money for Acorns Children’s Hospice.
The hospice, which needs to raise £2 million to save its Walsall centre, looked after Sam’s son Ben, who was suffering from a brain tumour – as well as the rest of the family including mother Joanne and three-year-old Lydia.
The six-year-old was diagnosed in April 2018, two weeks after his fifth birthday –but died in May this year.
Now, the fundraising team are nearing the end of a journey that spans more than 270 miles – when they arrive in John O’Groats today.
“My dad has been riding from Land’s End to John O’Groats in stages, raising money for various charities, so we wanted to join him for the final leg and raise money for Acorns,” Sam, aged 39, from Kings Norton, Birmingham, said.
“It’s been hard, a lot of climbing and rain in the face and some problems with the bikes at times.
“When it gets tough I think about what Ben went through and it inspires us to push on, he went through a lot more discomfort than we have.
“On the final day we’re riding in superhero costumes like Spiderman and Batman as Ben was our superhero.
“The slogan on our shirts is “our superpower is love” as one day Ben was in bed with Joanne and he said those words, that’s how we remember him.”
So far, the fundraising page has raised more than £17,000, as hundreds of people support the cause.
All of the money is going to Acorns, whose hospice in Selly Oak in Birmingham looked after Ben in his final days.
“They were so fantastic and made the unbearable just about bearable,” Sam added.
“The thought of not having a resource like that is really unthinkable.
“For all the families in a terrible situation, the idea of not having Acorns or a similar service is not right.
“We can’t speak highly enough of them, they catered for the entire family, services like these should be a priority for any government – they were there when we needed them.
“The money is for them to use as they see fit, particularly with the Walsall site in crisis.
“It’s overwhelming, we can’t thank people enough for how generous they have been, it’s so important.
“If something good can come of something so terrible, that gives us some solace.
“We’ve had to constantly up the target and we want to raise as much as possible for Acorns and the work they do.
“It won’t stop here for us, we’ll keep raising money in Ben’s name, we’re inspired by the example he set.”
One of the family’s fondest memories of Ben is when he was a mascot for the England football team.
He was first given a shout-out by captain Harry Kane on Twitter after a paediatric radiographer shared a video of Ben being gifted a replica World Cup.
The FA then invited the family to a game at Wembley in September where Harry Kane was given his golden boot from the World Cup.
Sam said: “When he was given the World Cup it was on the last day of his first round of radiotherapy.
“He lost the ability to speak at one point and one of the first things he said when it came back was that he wanted the World Cup.
“Ben was watching Harry Kane and always remembered him, so it’s amazing that not only did Harry Kane give him a shout-out on Twitter, but he also mentioned Ben in a press conference before a game.
“It was a really lovely thing to do and when Ben was the mascot, Harry was amazing with him, really fantastic.”
The challenge is one of dozens taking place across the region in support of crisis-hit Acorns.
People can donate to the family fundraiser by visiting https://bit.ly/348mxRG
