In 2022, Kidscan ambassador Matty Hatton sadly passed away after a long battle with Medulloblastoma simply because current treatment options where not effective enough.
Matty was an inspirational young man and one of his last wishes was for his mum to close his bank account and make a donation to Kidscan to put towards life-saving research. In April this year Kidscan received a donation of £500 that will go directly towards increasing the number of new treatments for children like Matty.
At Kidscan, we believe no child should ever have to think about what happens after they gain their angel wings because every child diagnosed with cancer should have suitable treatments readily available. But sadly, over the last 20 years only 4 new treatments have been made developed for childhood cancers.
Instead children often rely on treatments such as chemotherapies that are designed for adults and are not always effective at treating childhood cancers because they are not targeted to children's cancers or because using them would cause too much damage to children's bodies.
Thats why we need your help, we want you to help us boost childhood cancer research by matching Mattys donation. Whether you choose to fundraise £500 or make a one-off donation in Mattys memory, you will be helping us to create a world where every child diagnosed with cancer can survive.
In December 2016, Matty Hatton developed headaches with occasional sickness. After a visit to the GP and a CT scan he was diagnosed with Medulloblastoma, a rare brain tumour. Matty had surgery and over 14 months of treatment which included chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Although Matty rang the end of treatment bell, 6 months later Matty found out he had relapsed.
Mattys diagnosis had a huge impact on us as a family, it feels like we always have a constant weight on our shoulders waiting for the next time it will come back and asking whether the treatment will work again.
After his first relapse, treatment initially appeared to work, but once again in 2020 Matty relapsed. His family had to endure treatment and the challenges of lockdown at the same time.
"We do talk about the future, and he says he just takes each day as it comes. For now, though itll just be waiting to see what his scan results show and that will determine what path we take. Whether we get three months to make more memories or resume treatment or well that doesnt bare thinking about
Matty was an inspirational young man, and all through his treatment he was dedicated to completing his GCSE's and A-Levels in biology, maths and chemistry! Matty was a huge Leicester City supporter and loved monkeys. To keep Matty motivated during lockdown and his treatment, his aunty setup Letters from the Lockdown, a facebook page where she asked people to send Matty letters to make him smile. The response was overwhelming and Matty received over 800 letters and postcards from people across the country including astronaut Tim Peake, Leicester City's Jamie Vardy and Ant and Dec.
During Letters from the Lockdown, Matty became a Kidscan ambassador and helped to use his story to raise awareness of childhood cancer and the importance of research. Everyone in the team who met Matty always commented on how inspiring he was.
Throughout lockdown Matty continued to receive treatment, but in February 2022, Letters from the Lockdown posted
It is with great sadness that we have to announce that Matty gained his angel-wings last night. He peacefully slipped away with us by his side . Obviously this leaves a gaping hole in our hearts but we wish to celebrate having Matty in our lives for the short time that we did . We love our boy so much and he was the best son / brother anyone could ask for. He will be Forever 17
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