Providing interactive Medical Gaming Carts to sick children and young people in hospitals throughout the United Kingdom.

Reece developed double vision. He was immediately booked in for an eye examination at the local opticians, and once seen, he was referred to Pinderfields Hospital eye clinic.

The eye specialist at Pinderfields Hospital checked over Reece. During this time, the eye specialist advised Reece to attend a follow-up appointment later that week to carry out more tests.

As a family, we received the devastating news that Reece had brain cancer. The paediatric doctor promptly referred Reece to the Children’s Oncology Department at Leeds Children’s Hospital.

At this time, Reece started to wear sunglasses with one of the lenses blacked out. The glasses helped aid his double vision (turning four to two) and became a statement accessory throughout his journey.

At Leeds Children’s Hospital, the specialists told Reece’s parents that he had an inoperable and incurable brain tumour called DIPG.

Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma (DIPG) is a brain tumour found in an area of the brain stem. It is highly aggressive and difficult to treat, with a survival rate of 0%.

Reece would not survive longer than 12 months.

The only treatment for Reece was 30 sessions of radiotherapy. This treatment was only to prolong his life and was purely palliative.

Reece needed to use a wheelchair for his mobility as the radiotherapy treatment combined with the drugs he was on caused significant fatigue. The specialists prescribed Reece a high dose of dexamethasone (steroids) to help aid brain swelling. His weight, looks and personality began to change, making him feel insecure.

It truly amazed us how he battled through the relentless treatments and hospital appointments with a smile. The sheer resilience, bravery, courage, and determination Reece showed was beyond inspiring. He truly was our little soldier.

Like so many kids, Christmas was always such a special time of the year. Throughout the festive season, Reece struggled on, always keeping his unique sense of humour whilst smiling in the face of extreme adversity.

Reece’s speech was affected, and he sadly lost the use of his left arm. The paralysis meant he could no longer play the games he loved, as the loss of movement impaired his grip on the controller. Being physically unable to game was a massive blow to Reece mentally and physically. His confidence rapidly declined.

Nine months was the time it took to go from complete normality to a tragic death; Reece’s life ended far too soon.

He deserved so much more, and without a doubt, he had so much more to give. Sadly, Reece himself will never have the chance.

Reece’s legacy will continue through his love of gaming. TheRockinR Gaming Charity will honour his gamer-tag ‘TheRockinR’, providing much-needed help and support to many other children and young people. We hope many others will benefit from what we experienced and witnessed as a family.

When we thought things couldn’t get worse, our beloved Mum/Wife, Carol passed away. The after-effect of losing Reece to DIPG was unbearable, and she struggled to cope daily. The loss of Carol deepened the void in our hearts.

At this point, TheRockinR had the choice to fight or discontinue; we chose to fight.

TheRockinR is a 2-person team run solely by Jonny & Jess (a Father/Daughter team).  Our mission to carry out Reece’s Legacy continues…