Wakefield family takes cancer fight to Westminster after death of schoolboy Levi

Levi Ringer passed away in 2006 at the age of six.

Now his mother Vicky, 44, his grandmother Val, 69, and his 11-year-old sister Layla have visited Westminster to urge MPs to invest in helping the 16,000 people diagnosed with brain tumours each year.

Vicky said: “I was devastated when I learnt that Levi had a brain tumour.

“When Levi was finally diagnosed, it was all too late.

“He didn’t recover from surgery and was on a life-support machine for six weeks before he passed away in our arms.

“Our lives were shattered, our hearts smashed into a million pieces.

“How do you even begin to live without that little person you love more than life itself?”

Since Levi’s death, the family has set up Levi’s Star – a member charity of Brain Tumour Research, to support other families in Yorkshire who have children suffering from the disease and to fund research into childhood brain tumours.

The family was amongst carers, scientists, charities and politicians who joined the national charity Brain Tumour Research at a reception held at Speaker’s House last week.

A petition supporting the issue has gained more than 120,000 signatures, and it is being scheduled for a House of Commons debate. Vicky added: “I am cross there is such a disparity between the numbers of children being diagnosed and the level of funding.

“Since the 10 years since we lost Levi, parents are still faced with no real choice in treatment options.

“Brain tumours kill more children and adults under the age of 40 than any other cancer yet just one per cent of the national spend on cancer research has been allocated to this.

“This is unacceptable. At the current rate of spend it will take 100 years to find a cure.”