Please take a moment to read Benjamin’s Story…

Benjamin was born on New Year’s Eve 2016 under very stressful circumstances as a very poorly little boy. It wasn’t thought he would survive his first night but after 8 weeks of intensive care we finally got to take him home. From the day he was born, however, we knew that our time with him was likely to be short and precious - we just didn’t know whether it would be days, months or years. Despite this, from the outset,  he showed us what an incredible little fighter he would be. In the first few months of his life he was in and out of hospital many times and endured and overcame so much, but in May of last year when he was sadly diagnosed with cancer we realised our time with Benjamin would not be years as hoped, it was estimated just a few months.

In addition to cancer, Benjamin had severe disabilities and epilepsy, amongst other things, which left him unable to see or respond to the world around him. However, after spending so much time in hospital we decided we would share our beautiful Benjamin with the world and do what we always dreamt we would do with our child and not hide him away or wrap him in cotton wool. We wanted to focus on our time together, treasure every moment and give him the best possible experience of the world in the time we had. In the time he was alive, Benjamin did more than most one year olds have - we managed to get him on an aeroplane to Spain, a Leeds United Football match and on countless trips to the seaside. He had many little buddies and went on play dates and baby classes like everyone else. He even met Gareth Southgate! 

Throughout this time, we were lucky enough to be supported by some amazing charities, without whom we would not have been able to get to know Benjamin in the way we did and make so many of these fantastic memories. One of these charities was Martin House. Like most people, prior to finding ourselves in these traumatic circumstances, we had never heard of Martin House. They offer family-led hospice care for children and young people with life-limiting illnesses, aiming to offer support to the whole family and giving the opportunity to spend quality time together. This includes short respite breaks, community support, bereavement support, symptom control and end of life treatment and care.

Both in the final months of Benjamin’s life and the traumatic days and weeks after his death, the support and care we received from the hospice staff was incredible and we cannot put into words how grateful we are for this. The services they provided not only supported us in making memories with Benjamin but it also allowed us to say goodbye in the calm and dignified way we wished for and enabled us to start the grieving process.

It costs over £8 million per year to provide this vital service to families around the Yorkshire region and 85% of this comes from charitable donations. Following our experience with Martin House, we, together with some amazing friends and family felt moved to raise money to allow this fantastic work to continue and to give other families in similar circumstances the opportunity to use their services. 

Firstly, my wonderful sister and brother, Laura and Elliott Wood, and a brave group of friends are tackling the 24 miles and 5200ft of ascent of Yorkshire 3 Peaks in September.

And then, the incredible Rachel Herar is running the York Marathon on 14th October 2018 in memory of Benjamin.

Plus further events later in the year....

Benjamin’s bravery and strength astounded us and taught us so much. He fought and bounced back so many times we can’t count but it meant that what was predicted to be a few months was many more. The last year has been the best and the worst of our lives but through Benjamin we have learnt so much about ourselves, love, life and death and the value of health, happiness, family and friends. He has brought us so much joy and we are so incredibly proud of him and feel honoured and lucky to have had him in our lives.

We will miss him forever but are so glad he is at peace.

Please give anything you can to this amazing charity to allow other families a similar experience.

Thankyou so much,

Mel and Adrian

#forbenjamin