Tring family to fundraise in memory of late brother and uncle

Emma Crossey and her daughters, Ellie and Layla, from Tring, are joining this year’s Wear a Hat Day.

A fundraising campaign organised by Brain Tumour Research, in memory of Sean Crossley who was Emma’s brother and the girls’ uncle.

Sean Crossey, who lived in High Wycombe, was diagnosed with a grade 4 glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), an aggressive and fast-growing brain tumour, in August 2016 after experiencing intermittent vomiting, dizziness and crippling headaches.

He underwent three brain surgeries, chemotherapy and radiotherapy but died in September 2018, just three months after marrying his long-term partner, Laura. He was 29 years old.

Ellie and Layla, twin sisters who are six years old, took part in the project last year.

But this time they are doing Wear A Hat Day with Flowers with all their classmates in a school-wide project.

They will be reusing their hats from last year and filling them with flowers.

Emma said: “The girls were only three when my brother died but they definitely remember him and, as they’ve got older they’ve asked more questions.

"We talk about him every day and they’ve got toys that he and Laura bought them, which they’re very attached to.”

The 36-year-old, who left her job as an A&E nurse after Sean died to return to the pharmaceutical industry, specifically oncology clinical trials, added: “The biggest thing I’ve taken from losing Sean is to live every day as if it’s your last. I used to be somebody who liked having a plan and knew where I was going, but when your whole world stops like that, it makes you re-evaluate your priorities.

“That’s a big part of why I changed jobs. I still love nursing but not the lifestyle that goes with it; I do still work weekend shifts occasionally but I wanted a better work-life balance and to be around more for my children.

"I’m also very passionate about helping to find a cure, which is why I’m working in the industry I am. If we can prevent one family from going through what we did, then we’ve succeeded in my opinion.”

The fundraiser is taking place at St Bartholomew’s Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School, in Wigginton, Hertfordshire.