As an individual, friend, son, brother, grandson, cousin and nephew, Arran brought with him a great amount of laughter, love and friendship.
His creativity led him to the love of music and drama that was balanced with the rough and tumble of his passion of football.
Along with his family, he was a passionate pilgrim with HCPT Group 19 and Group 521. His talented passion for music, cheeky sense of fun, feisty charm, selfless helpful nature and strong faith made him a perfect helper with HCPT and he was looking forward to an exciting future as a volunteer as soon as he was old enough.
His kindness shone through in many areas of his life that culminated in his support and fundraising for Cancer research, inspired by his Auntie and a family friend who suffered from the terrible disease.
As a mum, I knew Arran wasn’t himself and hadn’t been for some time.
He was often sick, having dizzy spells, double vision, sore heads & pain at the back of his eyes. These symptoms came and went, sometimes weeks apart but on the week leading up to his operation they were a daily problem.
He didn’t want any fuss and when I finally took him to the GP he said “My mum is worrying over nothing, it’s probably hormones” How I wish to God it was just hormones racing round causing these symptoms.
It was only through our visit to the optician that we were able to have a retinal photograph that highlighted an abnormality. On the Monday morning, Arran was unfortunately diagnosed with a brain tumour. With his family by his side, he calmly and bravely went into battle on Tuesday morning with that huge smile, and a determined ‘thumbs-up-let’s-kick-this-tumour’s-a**!’
Sadly, the tumour was far far worse than predicted, and complications led to Arran falling into a deep coma. He spent four days being cared for by a team of experts in Addenbrooke’s Paediatric Intensive Care Unit, surrounded constantly by pure love, prayer, music, kisses and cuddles. His mum, dad, sisters and family handed him over to Jesus early on Saturday 7th June. Arran was only 13.
Arran’s final words in his hospital diary were “LIFE GOES ON” inspired by the Noah and the Whale song ‘L.I.F.E.G.O.E.S.O.N’, which he loved.
We have to believe that prophetic message for Arran’s sake.
He was super chuffed to have raised £750 through his Just Giving site for Cancer Research before he discovered he had a serious tumour. He had his school’s permission and was planning to have his mum (a super talented hairdresser!) shave his hair off on the last day of term in front of his fellow students. Arran had also been collecting sponsorship and busking with his band on the streets of Sudbury for those last few months.
Arran’s zest for life and inspirational character has influenced, and even transformed, the hearts and minds of the countless people he knew and loved, (as well as the many he didn’t know, but have been moved and compelled by his powerful story) and we take peace and comfort in that during these difficult days.
His focus was to achieve £1000 of donations by the start of July. Since his own battle started, his donations have surpassed £120,000. Our gorgeous wee man would be proud beyond belief. We would be grateful if you could assist us to share Arran’s story and most importantly, his legacy.
We always think of our 3 children as being gifts from God but never thought he would need any of them back so soon. Our brave soldier is another angel in Heaven, that we are 100 percent sure of.
