SUPERJOSH founder Dawn Fidler brings you her latet blog

LAST week we celebrated what would have been our amazing boy Josh’s 16th birthday.

Beginning with a wonderful superhero themed day hosted by The Rock, featuring fun, SuperHero Camp, face painting and of course lots of cake!

It was a really emotional day for me but so lovely to see so many dressing up and having a great time, Josh would have loved it.

A huge thank you to Linzi and Mel and all involved at The Rock for organising it, to Faye and friends from Kidstar Parties, and Brooke’s Cup Cakes. As always, thanks to our amazing team of Thumbraisers and to everyone who helped contribute on the day — you raised £730!

We ended the day visiting Josh's special bench in Heaton Park, sharing precious memories and leaving some balloons to mark his 16th.

Including gift aid, generous donations raised £1,600 for the bench, which cost £1,300. The remaining funds will be used by the charity to continue to provide support to those who need it.

On Sunday, we enjoyed a lovely picnic in Heaton park which included sports day style races, lots of snacks and, of course, yet more cake!

Thank you to everyone who held events, came along to support us and those who took and shared their cake selfies.

It means so much to both myself and all of Josh’s family to see him remembered to fondly and so passionately by so many.

It’s amazing to think that Josh’s charity is now three years old, and it’s great to reflect on all we have achieved in this time.

Having helped more than 1,100 families and raising £350,000 is simply overwhelming.

We recently had a great testimonial from a social worker at Christies in Manchester who was delighted to have found a charity who helps both children and young adults up to 25. Such support can be limited as soon as an individual reaches 18, regardless of their circumstances, and it is vitally important to us that we help as many of those that need us as possible.

Esther said: “Whatever the age a teenager/young adult is still your child so when a diagnosis comes parents often have to support them, often reducing working hours or going off on sick. There are many additional benefits which buffer the reduction in income and increase in outgoing parents of children with cancer receive but lots of parents of over 18’s do not have these."

The donations we receive as a charity help provide this support, and really does make all the difference to those who need it most.

You can donate to The Joshua Wilson Brain Tumour Charity by simply texting SJBT13 followed by £1, £2, £5 or £10 to 70070