LAURIE

Laurie Engel was a smart, funny, charming, sparky, sporty boy. Until he was 11 he never had a more serious ailment than athlete's foot.

He lived on a farm in Herefordshire with his parents, Matthew and Hilary, and little sister Vika.

Laurie wanted to win Wimbledon or, failing that, be a sports writer like his dad. Almost anything seemed possible – except what did happen. He was diagnosed with a rare and aggressive cancer. Despite 17 months of intensive treatment, he died in September 2005, aged 13.

Laurie's friends often speak of his kindness. He said he wanted to make a difference. His family set up the Laurie Engel Fund to make sure that he would.


THE LAURIE ENGEL FUND

Laurie was treated at the Birmingham Children's Hospital, the childhood cancer centre for much of England. The Engel family found the medical care there world-class, but the facilities and surroundings dismal. The hospital staff are also desperate to improve things.

The Fund is working with Teenage Cancer Trust and the hospital to ensure that future patients have better conditions than Laurie did. The short-term plan is to refurbish and extend the ward by 2007. An architect is already preparing the plans. A completely new cancer department, including a state of the art TCT unit, is planned within the decade.

The Engels hope Laurie's fund will make a large contribution to both these projects, which will brighten the lives of sick teenagers. They think Laurie would be proud.


TEENAGE CANCER TRUST

Each day in the UK six teenagers will be diagnosed with cancer – that is over 2,200 diagnoses a year. Fewer than half of them will be treated on a Teenage Cancer Trust ward, where facilities have been specially designed to meet their needs. These units can improve survival rates. The TCT aims to build enough units in NHS hospitals so that every teenager with cancer can have access to one. Each unit costs about £2 million to build.

 

 

BIRMINGHAM LATEST

The new teenage cancer ward at Birmingham Childrens Hospital, which Laurie’s fund is helping to build, has been granted planning permission.  Birmingham City planning officials described the new ward as an “exceptionally high quality design”. 

Work can now go ahead on the building, which is expected to cost £2 million altogether.  We hope that it will be completed by late summer 2008.

THE FUND

The fund total now stands at over £750,000.  We have received several large donations this autumn. 

Otto Putland presented us with a cheque for £12,000, raised by swimming clubs around the country who have responded to his Otto’s Challenge.  He has now raised £26,000 altogether, and has kept his initial promise to fund-raise for at least 17 months – the length of time that Laurie was having treatment.  The Amateur Swimming Association has presented Otto with a “Swimtastic” award for outstanding achievement in the sport, and BBC Midlands Today ran another interview with him to mark this occasion. 


Otto Putland and his family

Zoe Collett is 15 and lives in Brimfield, a small village in north Herefordshire.  She learned about Teenage Cancer Trust through a talk that was given at her school, Wigmore High School, and was so shocked to hear about the number of teenagers diagnosed with cancer – six every day in the UK – that she made up her mind to do something.

In the space of three weeks she organized a concert, called Brimfield’s Got Talent, in the village hall.  It was a variety show, with 20 or so of Zoe’s friends and neighbours singing, dancing and doing comedy routines.  At the end of the show Zoe spoke about TCT and appealed for generous donations, and then she and others performed ‘One Voice’. 

Zoe has given the proceeds from the show - £1601.20 – to Laurie’s fund.  An amazing achievement.  We are hugely impressed by what Zoe did, and very grateful.


Zoe Collett (centre)

Former England cricketer Eric Russell presented us with a very special signed cricket bat which has now been auctioned for £1500.  The bat dated from the Lord’s Centenary Test of 1980, when all players who had ever played in an Ashes Test were invited as guests of honour.

It was auctioned on October 30 at a TCT fund-raising dinner, again at Lord’s, where Sir John Major was the guest speaker. 

Monique Horne and Vicky Withers from Hereford, who read about Laurie in the Hereford Times and then read Matthew’s article in the Guardian, ran the Great South Run in Portsmouth for Laurie’s fund.  Despite horrible wet windy weather they completed the 10-mile course in 1 hour 38 minutes, and raised £450 for the fund. Congratulations to both for a wonderful achievement.


Monique and Vicky, damp in Portsmouth

Matthew’s brother Tony Engel and his friend Geoffrey Barrett successfully completed their sponsored saunter along the St Cuthbert’s Way in Northumbria.  “The weather was kind, the scenery was beautiful, the path well-marked, and the sponsors very generous.” Altogether they expect to have raised nearly £5000.

WATCH OUR VIDEO NOW!

To view the short documentary made by David Raibin about Laurie and the work of the Fund, please click here.

EXTRACTS FROM THE RED NOTEBOOKS

Matthew's new book has just been published by Macmillan. It is a collection of quirky quotes, jokes and facts jotted down over more than a quarter of a century. It has already won rave reviews from Bill Bryson, John Cleese, Sebastian Faulks, Maureen Lipman and Jeremy Paxman. To read Matthew’s Financial Times article about the book, click here.

All royalties will go to the fund.  It is on sale at all good bookshops, and some not-so-good ones.  We also have copies for sale ourselves.

WISDEN ROSE NOW AVAILABLE

The new rose which was launched at the NEC last June is now available. The flowers are a crisp bright yellow, matching the colour of Wisden Cricketers Almanack beautifully, and they have a spicy fragrance. For every plant that is sold, £1 will be paid in royalties to Laurie’s fund.

You can order direct from Stewart Pococks Roses on 01794 367500 or by email here. The price for one plant (in a pot), including delivery, is £16.45, or for two plants, £26.25.