St Ambrose College sixth-form student Jack Waywell has completed a 3km night swim in Salford Quays in memory of his friend Alex Hulme, who died of cancer five years ago aged 12.
The two boys had been best friends from being toddlers, living just a few doors down from each other in Sale, going to nursery together and as they got older playing out whenever they could.
Jack completed the swim in 55 minutes with his mum Carolyn, a heart failure specialist practitioner, on the anniversary of his best friend’s death and brings the total raised by the Alex Hulme Foundation to over £220,000.
Jack is still very much in touch with Alex’s family and often looks after his little brother taking him to the cinema and playing with him, much like an older brother might.
“It was a dreadful time for Alex in particular and for his family and we all want to keep his memory alive and do something positive to honour him,” said Jack.
“Alex was the smart one, everyone said so and I still miss him today.
“As my Dad’s bank, the HSBC, doubles everything we raise I think our family’s contribution is now over £5,000
“I often think about Alex and what he might be doing now and I know we’d still be best friends.”
On his endurance swim, he added: “It might sound awful but Salford Docks is actually quite clean, and it wasn’t that cold.
“The problem came seeing where you were going and trying to make out the buoys, but as normal mum had it covered.”
Carolyn, who completed the 3km in 1 hour 15 minutes, said: “Our families are very close and always will be and though it might have been nice to swim in the Mediterranean rather than Salford Docks, I am so pleased we did our little bit to support the family and honour Alex, who was such a lovely boy.”
The Alex Hulme Foundation
Alex was born in Trafford on July 29th 1999 and led a full and fruitful life with his fun, easy going and mature approach to life.
In March 2011 Alex was diagnosed with B-Cell Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma. His treatment worked well in the early stages, yet Alex’s cancer returned in late June and although he responded well again, he lost his six month battle and left us on Monday September 5th 2011.
There has been no funding made available into the causes and treatment of Non Hodgkin Lymphoma in Children. Over 80% of children survive the disease but unfortunately Alex wasn’t one of them so there is still a long way to go before we reach the target of a 100% survival rate.
We felt it only fitting that we should honour Alex by setting up a legacy that will enable us to help others suffering with the illness that took him from us.
The Alex Hulme Foundation was formed on 12th October 2011 by Alex’s Mum and Dad, Nicola and Dave Hulme along with Alex’s Auntie, Brenda Jackson.
Through donations donors will be helping towards improving the research into and the treatment of this dreadful disease and thus providing diagnosed children with a better prognosis for the future.
Our intention is for the Foundation to belong to everyone who supports it as they will become part of Alex’s extended family. We guarantee that 100% of the money raised by your Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma fundraising efforts will go towards developing research into Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma in Children.