Jack’s story

Sports stars grant wishes for Jack

We were so very saddened to hear that brave little Jack Marshall passed away on Thursday 13th October aged 6 years. Jack had a medulloblastoma brain tumour that had returned after treatment.

Ever since he was first diagnosed, Jack’s mum Tracey, dad Craig and brother Josh committed themselves to achieving something incredibly positive out of Jack’s illness, by raising awareness of brain tumours in a web and media campaign, featuring Jack’s cheeky grin at the centre. The family were strong supporters of HeadSmart, our campaign to raise awareness of the signs and symptoms of childhood brain tumours.

Throughout the latter stages of Jack’s illness, his mum Tracey kept over 90,000 Twitter followers updated and amused with pictures, videos and quotes from her courageous son, gaining high-profile interest along the way.

Touched by Jack’s story, key sporting figures gave their support to Jack: Manchester United’s Wayne Rooney is regularly seen wearing his red awareness wristbands, Rio Ferdinand treated the family to a day out at the Manchester United training ground, Serena Williams arranged for the family to go to Wimbledon and meet her, and they even had a barbecue at the home of Arsenal’s Jack Wilshere!

Jack outlived the doctor’s expectations by more than six months, and a smile was never far from his face. We are honoured to have been selected by Jack’s family to receive a portion of the donations from Jack’s funeral. Our thoughts are with Tracey, Craig and Josh as they come to terms with their loss.