In early November 2016 three year old Drew Barker-Wright was diagnosed with Chordoma, a rare type of cancer that occurs in the skull base and spine . He was admitted to Oncology at Birmingham Children's Hospital where he began intensive chemotherapy and surgery. Drew's journey was fraught with complications from the outset. This was primarily due to the rareness of the cancer and the lack of documentated cases. On the morning of February 24th 2017, Drew took his last breath at home with mum and daddy. His battle was brief and brutal but, bravely fought for one so young.
Since loosing Drew, Mel and Jon have tried to find some positivity in all the heartache. The local and wider community raised a substantial amount of money for Drew during his fight. They both felt this needed to be spent on improving the chances of survival for other children with this diagnosis.
Currently, they are on the process of setting up a charitable trust in Drews' name. This charity will focus on raising money to fund paediatric chordoma research and support young children around the world whose lives have been devastated by this cancer.
As their first event in Drew's memory , Mel and Jon have assembled 50+ runners to take on the Cardiff Half Marathon on October 1st 2017. The team consists of seasoned runners and absolute beginners. They are delighted to have onboard Steven Mendal a chordoma survivor. Mel and Jon hope this will be the first of many events in Drew's memory, with the aim to raise as much money as possible and improve the survival chances of paediatric chordoma sufferers worldwide.
Please support our wonderful team of runners as we dedicate our time, sweat and tears to the memory of Drew Barker-Wright, our darling little boy.