Laurie Engle's dying wish enables teenage cancer wing to open at Birmingham Children's Hospital (From Hereford Times)

Laurie Engle's dying wish enables teenage cancer wing to open at Birmingham Children's Hospital

7:00am Wednesday 30th December 2009 in

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AT Fairfield High School there is a well where hope springs eternal.

Matthew and Hilary Engel have drawn deeply from that well during the dark times as they made the last wish of their son Laurie come true.

Laurie’s Well is where the 13- year-old’s Fairfield friends still take tributes to the schoolmate lost to them some four years ago.

Hilary says that every time she, Matthew and Laurie’s sister Vika go to the well they are surprised by what they see there.

So much has surprised them since Laurie’s loss.

The new teenage cancer unit at Birmingham Children’s Hospital (BCH) won’t take Laurie’s name but, like the well, taps liberally into his spirit.

It was on a ward not far from this new wing that Laurie made his last wish, confiding in mum to make it happen.

By then, Laurie knew what could be coming as a rare and aggressive cancer struck deeper into a body already ravaged by months of chemotherapy, radiotherapy and endurance of almost every illness he could have contracted.

Wise well beyond his years, Laurie told Hilary that if he was to die with so much to offer, then his death had to, and must, make a difference.

At BCH now, that difference is going to be made every day...

■ Made each time another cancer stricken teenager turns on their overhead “mood” lights while mum or dad bed down alongside to snatch what sleep they can.

■ Made each time cue strikes ball for pool to play the day away, an iPod seeks out favourite tracks from its very own bedside station or a games console switches to another world.

■ Made in the chance to simply “chill” as teens do in space specially for them to do it.

Jacky Hotchin, nurse-manager for the new unit, says the ward gives the children what they want, because the children had a chance to say what they wanted.

That, says Hilary, is just as Laurie would have wanted.

The Engels freely admit that they had no idea what they were getting into when they first starting fund-raising in Laurie’s name.

Their first thoughts were of around £10,000 for the Teenage Cancer Trust and its work towards a network of special teen cancer wards across the country. But from that first Hereford Times story, the response was remarkable.

The day a farmer from “over the valley” called at the Engel home with £10 on the back of what he had heard about Laurie, they knew what their boy was going to do, sustained always by the thought of what he could have done.

By this time last year the Laurie Engel Fund had topped an astonishing £860,000, well beyond the Engels’ wildest expectations and still rising. Now its nearly £900,000 with every hope of hitting the £1 million mark.

But it is the personal stories invested in that sum that account for its real worth.

Many of the families and individuals who took Laurie’s fund on – some still recovering from similar losses themselves – shared the opening of the unit with the Engels last Friday.

Laurie’s story, said Hilary, has inspired individuals to do remarkable things and, on the evidence, it will continue to do so.

The source for that inspiration is always there at the well and what springs from those tributes left by Laurie’s peers.

■ Fundraising in Laurie’s name goes on. For details, contact the Engels at Fair Oak, Bacton, Herefordshire HR2 0AT or visit laurieengelfund.org.

How teenager’s dying wish has made a difference, almost a million times over As this new teenage cancer wing opens at Birmingham Children’s Hospital, BILL TANNER looks back on the heartfelt fund-raising, inspired by a brave Herefordshire boy, which helped build it.

M Laurie Engel, a victim of a rare and agressive cancer at 13.

Right: One of our reports on how the appeal touched many hearts.

Why Parkie’s offered to help Laurie’s fund Full index on Page 2 Enjoy Free Family Meals at Page 28 Bulls Clinch Play-off Spot Fly High Win A Pleasure Flight From Page6 THURSDAY, APRIL 20, 2006 COVERING THE COUNTY SINCE 1832 - Incorporating the 65p A CHARITY trust set up in the name of a Herefordshire teenager who died from cancer has raised a whopping £140,000 in just six months.

The money will help re-build the cancer ward at Birmingham Children’s Hospital (BCH) where Laurie Engel was treated until his death last year.

A “complete stranger” chipped in with £25,000 after Laurie’s story was first featured by the Hereford Times in October. Schools across the county also boosted the sum.

But friends of Laurie and his family from Bacton in the Golden Valley have raised much of the money through community staples like coffee mornings, collections and sponsored events.

Laurie’s dad Matthew said the fund had so far succeeded beyond the family’s wildest fantasies.

“I thought we would have about £10,000 at most by now,” said Matthew.

And there is the promise of more to come with no less than Michael Parkinson offering an “Evening with…” show for the fund.

First there’s a football tournament for youngsters across the Golden Valley next month and a sponsored walk across the BlackMountains.

Laurie’s mum Hilary is also putting together a book of his writings and memories. A website for the fund was launched last week.

Smart, funny, charming, sparky, sporty… everything seemed possible for Laurie Engel, except what happened.

When a rare and aggressive cancer seeped into his soft tissue he had little chance of survival.

Aged 13, with months left to live, Laurie knew what his too short life had to be about. If he was to die with somuch to offer, then his deathmust make a difference.

Until his cancer, Laurie had suffered nothing more serious than athlete’s foot and dreamed of winning at Wimbledon or becoming a top sportswriter like his dad.

Instead, his legacy is the fund set up in his name, which will improve treatment and facilities for teenage cancer patients across the country – starting close to home.

Based on national statistics, six teenager cancer patients from Herefordshire can expect to go to Birmingham Children’s Hospital for treatment.

When Laurie was ill, the family found his care at BCH to be ‘world class’ but the facilities and surroundings ‘dismal’.

The fund is working with both BCH and the Teenage Cancer Trust to ensure better conditions for future patients.

Short term, the plan was to improve the existing ward by next year – something now made possible with the money raised.

Within the next 10 years, the fund should be contributing to the creation of a state-of-the-art teen cancer unit but that is at least £20 million away.

Matthew, who penned a piece about Laurie for his own paper, The Guardian, says his son’s death struck a chord because he was “extraordinary in his own way – but could have been anybody’s kid.”

The financial and moral support shown so far hadbeen “overwhelming,” he said.

● The Fund website is at www.laurieengelfund.

org. Donations can be sent to TCT Laurie Engel Fund, Fair Oak, Bacton, Herefordshire, HR2 0AT; the e-mail address is tctlaurie1 @aol.com