Year by year
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2014
William was diagnosed with a brain tumour at 18 months old. A head tilt was one of the signs that made us push for answers. We set up Make William Well to raise awareness and money for research, and to share what we learned with other families.
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2016
Our first research appeal raised money towards a proposed project on treatments for childhood ependymoma, and William’s uncle Michael organised our first Three Peaks Challenge.
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2017
We proposed and helped fund a £100,000 laboratory research project at the University of Nottingham’s Children’s Brain Tumour Research Centre, looking at a possible new treatment for childhood brain tumours. Astro Brain Tumour Fund and Brain Tumour Action gave £45,000 each and the Jessica Hope Foundation gave £10,000, alongside donations and sponsored runs from many individual supporters. The appeal featured on BBC East Midlands Today, BBC Radio Nottingham and Gem106. We also started sharing ketogenic diet recipes and information.
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2018
The Nottingham project got under way. Colas, where William’s dad worked at the time, made Make William Well its fundraising focus for the rest of the year, and a team Yorkshire Three Peaks Challenge raised almost £5,000 for the Children’s Brain Tumour Research Centre. We started a petition for clearer food labelling to help families on a ketogenic diet, and attended the first UK Paediatric Brain Tumour Symposium.
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2019
Five years on from William’s diagnosis, Make William Well became a supporter group of The Brain Tumour Charity, with every penny ringfenced for research. The Nottingham project completed its laboratory work, William’s dad told our story at the UK Paediatric Brain Tumour Symposium, and we attended the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Brain Tumours for its session on the ketogenic diet.
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2021
After a quiet 2020 we gave the site a refresh. We chose to keep William’s day-to-day life private and share an annual scan update instead.
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2022
William turned 10. His dad ran 5km every day through August for the Children’s Brain Tumour Research Centre, and we shared why a head tilt can be a sign of a brain tumour in children.
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2024
The last post, in July, reported another stable scan.
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2026
We retired the website and replaced it with this page.
Thank you
Thank you to everyone who donated, ran, walked, climbed, baked, shared a post or sent a kind word over those ten years. We could not have done any of it without you.
We are especially grateful to Astro Brain Tumour Fund, Brain Tumour Action, the Jessica Hope Foundation, The Sam White Legacy, Newark Round Table, Colas, GAP Vehicle Hire, Matthew’s Friends and The Brain Tumour Charity, to the researchers at the Children’s Brain Tumour Research Centre, and to the doctors and nurses who have cared for William.
If you need help or information
These organisations helped us, and they are where we would start.
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HeadSmart (Better Safe Than Tumour)
The Brain Tumour Charity’s guide to the signs and symptoms of brain tumours in children. It is where we first read that a head tilt could be a sign.
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The Brain Tumour Charity
Information, support and research funding, including a team for children and families.
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Young Lives vs Cancer
Practical, emotional and financial support for children and young people with cancer, and their families. Formerly CLIC Sargent, who supported us.
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Matthew’s Friends
Information and support for families on medical ketogenic dietary therapies.
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Children’s Brain Tumour Research Centre
The University of Nottingham research centre where the project we helped fund was carried out.
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Brain Tumour Research
Funds brain tumour research at Centres of Excellence across the UK and campaigns for more national investment. They invited us to the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Brain Tumours in 2019.
Make William Well was created by parents, not clinicians. Nothing on this page is medical advice, and decisions about a child’s care should always be made with their specialist team.