An eight-year-old boy from Dulwich climbed Snowdon and raised more than £4,000 for Brain Tumour Research to find a cure for the disease which killed his father.
Oscar Moth, from West Dulwich, lost his dad Piers in March this year, just ten days before his eighth birthday.
Piers, a music teacher who was just 40 when he passed away, had been diagnosed with a brain tumour a decade earlier after suffering seizure at a party; just three weeks after meeting his future wife, Laura.
He then spent three weeks in hospital, including in intensive care, before an inoperable tumour was discovered deep in his brain’s temporal lobe.
After undergoing chemotherapy and radiotherapy, Piers’ condition stabilised for eight years and in that time he became a father of three; to Oscar and his siblings Ella, seven, and Ottilie, aged two.
Two years ago doctors discovered that his tumour – an anaplastic astrocytoma – had returned.
After his death, his bereaved wife, Laura, an NHS respiratory physiotherapist, decided to climb Snowden with her son to help raise funds for research and a potential cure.
She said: “Oscar and I climbed Snowdon last week and were lucky that the weather was good – it was windy at the top, but clear and we could see for miles.
“We were accompanied by close friends, Rachel Rutt, who has been such a support since we lost Piers, and Felix Hughes, who was a great buddy of Piers and also in his band.
“Piers was a musician and peripatetic music teacher, who never went anywhere without a recorder in his pocket, so it was very poignant when Felix pulled out a flute on the summit and played a tune in his honour.
“Music was so important to Piers that when I went to hospital to give birth to Oscar, Piers forgot my hospital bag, but still had his recorder!
“When he had big seizures at home and we had to call for the paramedics, Piers would play TV theme tunes to them and quiz them as to what they were.
“Piers was the absolute best daddy our family could wish for, providing wrap-around care and school holiday cover while I worked full-time.
“He was brave and funny and the most kind and gentle soul. We all miss him more than you can imagine.
“I am so proud of Oscar. This is the first sponsored event he has done and the first time he has climbed a mountain.
“Before the COVID pandemic, he used to have weekly climbing lessons and always said he wanted to climb a mountain. Since losing his daddy, he said he wanted to raise funds for research so that other families don’t lose a mummy or daddy, or anyone else they care about.”
Funds raised from their climb will go toward Brain Tumour Research. The charity says brain tumours kill more children and adults under the age of 40 than any other cancer yet historically only one per cent of the national spend on cancer research has been allocated to this area of research.
The charity funds work at dedicated centres across the UK as well as campaigning for the government and larger cancer charities to channel more funding into brain cancer tumour research.
It is calling for a national annual spend of £35 million in order to improve survival rates and patient outcomes in line with other cancers such as breast cancer and leukaemia, and is also campaigning for greater repurposing of drugs.