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Richard was diagnosed with testicular cancer in November 2011, aged 20, during the third year of his MEng degree in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Sheffield.
He underwent gruelling treatment for 19 months in Sheffield's Weston Park Hospital, never once complaining or feeling sorry for himself, but despite the high cure rate for this type of cancer, he died on 13th June 2013, on the day he would have left university had he been able to complete his degree.
There are no words to describe the despair we felt on losing our wonderful son and Chris and Stephen their big brother. Richard had everything to live for and the brightest of futures ahead of him, but it was not to be - his cancer was rare and aggressive and had no respect for age or prospects.
Since Richard's death we have concentrated our efforts on raising money for a variety of cancer charities, including the Teenage Cancer Trust, as Richard received such wonderful care in their Sheffield unit, but this latest challenge is a personal quest for us - to raise money for a lasting award in Richard's name which would mean he would never be forgotten and in addition would help other engineering students from Sheffield University, where Richard was so happy.
The award would be given annually with a presentation at the engineering graduation ceremony. Recipients would be given an information sheet about the scholarship and future engineers would know about Richard and his story. It would be a prestigious award that students wished to attain.
It feels right to start 2015 by doing something positive for Richard and we will be thinking of ways to raise money, but ask people to donate anyway - to support future generations of engineers from Sheffield, to support us, Richard's family, as we learn to live without him, but most of all to ensure that our wonderful, courageous, inspirational son is never forgotten. That is so important to us. Thank you so much.
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