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It happened to us, the thing you hear about, the thing you feel sorry for people for, and when you hear about it you think thank goodness it’s not us. It will never be us. But one day it was us. Our son was diagnosed with a brain tumour. In that moment life changed, nothing else mattered except the four of us and doing everything we could to make sure Jack got better. In the days, weeks and months that followed we saw love, support and friendship that was immeasurable. Support also came from one place we didn’t really know about and in the form of help we didn’t think we needed. That support was the Harry Johnson foundation. Just a few days in from Jacks diagnosis a cheque arrived at our house, a cheque we didn’t think we needed, but boy did we. In the summer of 2020, Covid-19 was the only news around, restrictions were high and making life difficult for us to be together as a family with BCH being undertstandibly so very strict on one child one parent, Ronald McDonald house wouldn’t allow siblings in and I felt guilty leaving the hospital in case I brought nasty germs back in. That cheque meant we didn’t sweat the small stuff, Chris and Will could come to Birmingham and stay in a hotel meaning I got to see Will and Jack got to see Chris, Jack had his first ever dominoes delivery (our treat for missing out on Wills birthday tea) and it meant I could eat stuff that wasn’t just toast or super noodles. There were lots of small things that money allowed us to do that I probably would have worried about, and goodness I had enough to worry about. On top of that Harry Johnson Trust does so much other really incredible stuff, Jack had a Lego set while we were in Telford waiting for that scan, 2 years ago our scan date fell on Christmas Eve, Jack came home with a treat box of chocolates, all donated to help families like us see some joy in what could be such awful circumstances. They have a caravan called Harry’s house where families needing quality time can go and rest up, also where medical professionals who help and support families who have children with cancer can go and decompress. The support The Harry Johnson Foundation give people is incredible and so needed. Please have a look at their website. We have had the best possible outcome, and we are forever grateful to everyone, but in particular the people we didn’t know we needed. So I want to return the favour. I am running Chester Marathon for The Harry Johnson Trust. I am training hard, when the hills get tough and the legs start to ache I remember why I am doing it and I push a little bit more. I want to be able to give Harry’s team the ability to continue to help families like us to not have to sweat the small stuff. I would be grateful if you could help me do that. Every £1 goes such a long way. Thank you for reading. Team Knowles. (Especially Mrs Knowles tired legs)

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