Ben Pavitt's Legacy of Love Fund raises over £100,000 which will fund vital research into childhood cancer
FUNDRAISING in memory of a New Forest teenager which hit its £100,000 target in just two years will be spent on vital new research.
Ben Pavitt from Marchwood was 15 when he was diagnosed in 2020 with acute lymphoblastic lymphoma, a relatively common type of blood cancer. After two weeks of illness that was initially thought to be a chest infection, an X-ray showed multiple tumours around Ben’s heart and lungs.
Early treatment worked, and he went into remission, but the cancer returned in June 2021 and Ben died just four months later.
His parents Suzie and Mike later set up Ben Pavitt's Legacy of Love Fund, part of the Children's Cancer and Leukaemia Group (CCLGt), to honour his selfless and resilient nature and raise money for research into childhood cancer. They say they hope to help find safer, kinder and more effective treatments and to reduce the likelihood of relapse.
The family’s impressive campaign has raised more than £100,000, which will fund a project focussing on the effects of radiotherapy and chemotherapy on children’s developing brains.
Mum Suzie said: “Ben was the wittiest, most caring and most fearless teenager you could possibly wish to know. He was a proud brother, fierce guardian on the football field and in gaming, an actor, musician, thrill-seeker, world traveller, volunteer, cat lover, friend, loving son and grandson.
“From an early age, Ben would always look for ways to help others less fortunate than himself. He touched more lives in his brilliant 16 years on this earth than most of us could hope to in 60.”
Mike added: “When the paediatric ICU department at Southampton General Hospital saved his life shortly after his 15th birthday in 2020, one of his first thoughts on coming home was to raise funds for them.
“Much later, when he was given a terminal diagnosis, we talked about how we could create a lasting legacy which would benefit other childhood cancer sufferers and hopefully save at least one family the anguish of losing their child to cancer. This ultimately led to the creation, following his death, of Ben Pavitt’s Legacy of Love Fund.”
The family’s fundraising since then has helped keep Ben's spirit alive, said Suzie, which included a musical tribute at Mast Mayflower Theatre in Southampton last September.
She added: “We sold out the auditorium and performed many of Ben’s favourite songs, comedy skits and dance numbers. He was definitely there with us in spirit on the night.
“Ben was very clear that he wanted his legacy to help all children, regardless of the type of cancer they happened to be facing. All he sought to do was to alleviate suffering.
“He would have been very happy that we have been able to raise the target he gave us of £100,000 over two years, and that the research we are funding now could potentially have an impact on many lives – of children and young people, their families and loved ones.
“It feels like we have done him proud and done justice to his memory.”
Professor Olaf Ansorge, who will lead the research at the University of Oxford, said: “We are very grateful to be able to conduct this project with the generous support from CCLG and the Pavitt family. The developing brain is highly sensitive to the side effects of common cancer therapies, and we know very little about the biological mechanisms causing them.
“We want to find out why some brain cells are more vulnerable than others, and what the pattern of damage in them is. We would not be able to investigate this without the incredible courage and generosity of children and families affected by cancer who pledged their tissues to us for research after death.”
Professor Ansorge's team will explore genetic changes in various types of healthy brain cells and how cancer cells that survive treatment are different from those in the original tumour, with the ultimate goal to understand the long-term effects of cancer treatments and develop strategies to prevent them.
Claire Lewis, who will be working on the project for her PhD, added: “I’m honoured to work on pressing real-life questions that I know many young cancer survivors have, such as how will the treatment affect me in the long term and how could we prevent these side effects in the future?
“We are confident that our work will lead to new insights about young brains’ responses to cancer therapy, and hopeful that this may help design better, gentler and more targeted treatments.”
CEO of CCLG, Ashley Ball-Gamble, said: “This research could help us progress towards safer treatments, and has only been made possible by the Pavitt family’s fundraising. Their dedication to honouring Ben’s memory has raised an incredible amount, and will help improve the lives of children and young people facing cancer in the future.”