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Fund set up in memory of teen who died from cancer

Robin DaviesNorth East and Cumbria
Family Handout Matthew Adams sitting in the cockpit of a plane, wearing a green jumpsuit and a white helmet with a protective guard across his eyes and communications microphone in front of his mouth. He smiles towards the camera whilst a man sitting next to him straps himself into the seat.Family Handout
The family of Matthew Adams, who died aged 18 last year, have set up a fund to support families of other children with cancer

A fund has been set up by the family of a teenager who died from cancer to support other families with children who are receiving treatment for the disease.

Matthew's Meals and Miles will raise money to be donated to the Children's Cancer North charity, which will help with the costs of transport, meals, and accommodation for families visiting the Great North Children's Hospital in Newcastle.

The initiative has been named after 18-year-old Matthew Adams from Tynemouth, who died last year from an ultra-rare and incurable cancer affecting his hormone-producing cells.

His mother Jane Hall said: "He would be very proud because he had that generous, kind nature."

She said she wanted to launch the fund this week ahead of what would have been his 20th birthday.

"He didn't like publicity, he wasn't one for jumping up and down and going, 'look at me'," she said.

"But he really just wanted to go out and do good if he could."

Her son, an air cadet who was hoping to study archaeology at university, was in his final year of A-levels when his condition quickly deteriorated.

Last May, he died from metastatic paraganglioma, which affects two in a million people and is even rarer in young people, two and a half years after being diagnosed.

Family Handout Matthew at a military parade, wearing a red poppy on top of his navy jumper, with collared shirt underneath. He wears a beret, underneath which short, blonde hair is visible. The insignia on his shoulder reads: "Air Training Corps".Family Handout
Matthew Adams was an air cadet and hoped to study archaeology at university

Kings Priory School, which Matthew attended since Year 9, held its second non-uniform day this week to raise money for the fund.

Staff and pupils were asked to dress in brightly coloured shirts, a favourite of the teenager, who was described as "quirky" and having a "retro" fashion sense.

The fund had already raised £2,650 from the school's first non-uniform day in May.

Assistant principal at the school James Hand, who taught the Matthew geography, said pupils learned about his story during PSHE lessons.

He said: "Matthew was a dear pupil of ours for a long time. A lot of us saw the fantastic young man he grew into, and we really wanted to give something back to his family in celebration of his life."

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