September 21, 2016 was the day Matthew Gaut’s life was turned upside down.
Following three years of treatment, his son Harry tragically lost his life to leukaemia at the age of six. First diagnosed with ALL (acute lymphoblastic leukaemia) in May 2013, this had morphed into a more aggressive form of cancer known as AML (acute myeloid leukaemia) by 2016. Initially taken to Croydon University Hospital, Harry was later transferred to Royal Marsden Hospital in Sutton to be cared for.
A relapse in 2016 resulted in a stem cell transplant, which represented his only chance of a cure. Although a match was found for Harry, he sadly developed severe symptoms of graft-versus-host disease (GvHD). This typically occurs when white blood cells received from the donor attack one’s own body cells.
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“Because his initial diagnosis was ALL, at the time, it was about a 95 per cent survival rate,” explained Mr Gaut. “I wasn’t too concerned and thought he’d be OK. He was near the end of his treatment, three years in, and then his blood counts dropped. That’s when you know it has come back or it is something worse. Sadly, it was something much worse and then it went downhill. We lost Harry eight days after his sixth birthday. Following on from that, you search for something to cling onto and that’s normally something charitable.”
Indeed, Matthew was left inspired by the level of care his son received throughout his life and is now going to extreme lengths to raise money for Cure Leukaemia, a national blood cancer charity which funds pioneering trials across the UK to connect patients with potentially life-saving treatments.
On the fifth anniversary of Harry’s passing, Mr Gaut cycled from London to Paris in a show of support for the work being done by Cure Leukaemia and is planning to go one step further this June. Teaming up with eight other individuals, the 47-year-old pharmacist will again travel to the French capital from England – though this time by foot – and has set a fundraising target of £100,000 for his mammoth run.
Explaining how he and his wife Debbie have channelled their grief in a bid to support other families experiencing the pain they once felt, Mr Gaut told the ECHO: "Harry had spent three weeks in intensive care at St Georges Hospital, Tooting, where we lost him. On the morning of his passing, we went back to the Royal Marsden in Sutton where his bed was waiting for him. No-one expected him not to come back. The nurses were so kind, and one in particular hugged us both and said, 'you'll never get over it'. She was right of course, but you do learn to live with it.
“I sat back and there was never going to be anything I could contribute, so you leave it to the experts. I can’t cure it but I can run, so maybe we will try that. Harry is gone but would be proud of what we’re doing. If whatever we do benefits one child, then it would be entirely worth it.
“For me, it is a tremendous honour to be associated with a charity that embraces you. They call it the Care Leukaemia family, and that’s what it feels like. You really would walk over broken glass for these people and it is lovely.”
After completing his charity cycle to Paris back in 2021 through Cure Leukaemia, it was at this point Matthew met Robert Wynn – a paediatric haematologist from Liverpool. Professor Wynn oversees the bone marrow transplant unit at Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital, resulting in an instant connection being formed between the pair.
Professor Wynn, 57, will be taking on Cure Leukaemia’s Tour de France challenge this summer alongside 24 other cyclists as they ride all 21 stages of the famous route. A total of £1million is the target those competing are hoping to raise, with over £120,000 already secured.
Detailing why he has chosen to get involved, Professor Wynn said: “I cycled with Matt last year and I am inspired by his response to his loss. For Matt, his fundraising opens the possibility that other families won’t have to go through what he went through. I wish his story was not repeated so often and hope for the future we can cure more kids.
“This is a changing field of medicine. I have been a consultant for 25 years but if I look at the last five years, it is very rapidly changing. There are new products and new drugs. Most kids are cured with chemotherapy, some kids aren’t. We use bone marrow transplant and what happens with that is the cells of the donor kill the leukaemia and stop it coming back, but one of the side effects of that is exactly what Matt described: graft-versus-host disease. Changing transplant techniques means we have got much better ways in transplant without graft-versus-host disease. What we need is not more money into basic research, but instead to bring the treatments that are already available immediately to kids in beds in the UK.”
In addition to a shared passion for finding cures to cancer, Mr Gaut and Professor Wynn are both avid Liverpool supporters and remain fully aware of the role football can play in testing times.
“Football is a great unifier,” stated the former. “You don’t know the dad by the hospital bed opposite you with a little kid from the name Adam, but if he is wearing a Liverpool shirt you know you have something in common. Football gets you out of your current reality for 90 minutes. Instead of ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone,’ for me that becomes ‘You Will Never Run Alone’ as that is what I am singing along when I go running in the darkness. We will have that sung a lot on the way to Paris.”
Sharing this sentiment, Professor Wynn, a Liverpool season ticket holder, added: “At work, we welcome the kids from Liverpool as much as the children from Manchester. We love the fact they bring what is part of them. Often if you walk down the transplant unit, you see all the Liverpool flags and pictures of Jurgen Klopp very proudly displayed in the windows of a Manchester hospital.
“Having sick children makes you realise what is important in life: my aim is to get kids back to where they came from and to live their lives with their family. Football and sport are part of that. You are embedded in a family and a community, which is what football speaks to.”
Fundraising details:
To support Matthew Gaut's Cure Leukaemia campaign, click here.
To support Robert Wynn's Cure Leukaemia campaign, click here.
To support Cure Leukaemia's Tour 21 campaign, click here.
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