In October 2013 while fighting a very rare cancer – Precursor T-Cell Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, Samuel, my son, started Samuel’s Charity. Samuel lost his battle to cancer on the 22nd January 2014. He was 9 years old.

Samuel started his charity because he wanted to give the kids on the children’s wards in St Georges Hospital, Tooting, better food and he knew from his own experience how hard it is to be a child and deal with serious and terminal illnesses. The meals were not great, lacked choice and were for adults. Very few of the kids ate the food – this is very important as surviving serious illnesses requires eating!

Samuel wanted to raise a little money to be able to buy some nice food for the kids and cheer them up. What happened was the beginning of something that would help improve the lives of thousands of kids.

With your help we can transform the pain filled, horrible existence of nothing but medicine, sadness and, too often, depression by giving sick kids some fun, escape and happiness, no matter how brief. It is a reason to fight and to hope.

“My son Samuel started this charity because he knew just how awful it is for kids like him. Now I see so many wards that desperately need help. There is nothing I can do for Samuel now, but there is so much we can do for thousands just like Samuel.” ­Martin Leib, Trustee and Samuel’s dad.