Stand by Benny

06/04/2026

A massive well done to Gary 👏🩵

Gary's challenge was one of our first fundraising events to be initiated at the start of Benny's campaign.

Over the span of 114 days, he has covered a staggering 1,393 miles, an average of 12.2 miles every day.

Just over a week ago on the 29th March, he completed his challenge with a 50km Ultra Marathon around Durham.

This has been a gruelling task which has taken such determination and resilience, but we are so grateful for him taking this on for Stand by Benny 🩵

Congratulations again to Gary Tough 👏

26/03/2026

Just a little update from us.

Benny had a follow up CT scan earlier this month due to some areas of concern that had been flagged on his scans in January. Thankfully, we got the news that those areas of concern were no longer visible so it was likely that this was inflammation that had now passed.

In the same week, our consultant at the RVI had a call with the consultant in the Rome hospital and it seemed as though plans were progressing, and quickly. On Thursday last week, we got a date to travel. By Friday, flights and accommodation were booked and we thought we would soon be on our way. However, plans took a step back during the early hours of Sunday morning when Benny got a temperature and was admitted to hospital. They discovered that he had an infection in his central line in his chest so on Tuesday he went to theatre to have it surgically removed.

He has now got a temporary picc line in his arm which is really difficult for an active 5 year old to cope with. This can be painful and very restrictive, and despite him saying he really didn’t want to have one, he’s been so brave and as he always does, has just got on with things.

At the moment, the plan is to have 2 weeks of IV antibiotics and then they will make sure the infection has cleared from his blood stream. Once this is clear, they’ll arrange to put a new central line in, which requires another surgery. We are currently awaiting new provisional dates from the hospital in Rome.

It is disappointing that travel to Rome has been postponed when this is the point that we have all been working so hard to get to, but we want him to be fit and well going into CAR-T treatment when all our hopes are pinned on this being Benny’s cure.

Despite a little blip with his line, on the whole it’s been a positive month with things moving forward. We would like to take the opportunity to thank you all once again for your continuing support. Without all of you, we wouldn’t even be having these conversations and we will be forever grateful to each and every person who has helped us get Benny to this stage.

22/03/2026

Thank you to everyone who took part and donated in this wonderful event to support Stand by Benny 🩵

We are so grateful to you all for your kindness and support!

17/03/2026

This brought a huge smile to Benny’s face this morning. Thank you so much to The DistrActors for making this for him 💙

16/03/2026

Thank you so much to everyone at Birtley Methodist Church, Station Lane, Birtley, DH3 1DG for the kindness and support they’ve shown Benny and our family. We’re so grateful to them for all of the effort that they’ve put into fundraising but also for keeping Benny in their prayers 💙

13/03/2026

Bertie’s Shirts is opening this weekend and will be hosting a raffle in support of Benny 💙

We’re really excited to pop in and have a look around, it sounds like it’s going to be great.

If you’re local to the area, please pop in and support them on their opening weekend.

Join us for our opening from 12:00 tomorrow!

We will be fundraising for Stand by Benny and have a great range of prizes up for grabs.

We have donated some vintage shirts, memorabilia and Playstation vouchers along with some prints by Dan Designs.

Our wonderful local businesses below have also stepped up to donate some prizes towards our fundraiser

- Micro bus
- VIN
- The Tynesider
- The Rare Drop
- Wazz Cuts
- Sereniti Health
- Mill Tavern
- Pickibitz

Drop in either Saturday or Sunday to help us support Benny ❤️

09/03/2026

We wanted to say a huge thank you to the staff at Clever Clogs Day Nursery Bowburn, Clever Clogs Day Nursery Belmont and Little Ladybirds Day Nursery and well done on completing their sponsored walk at the weekend. We’re so grateful for all of the support they’ve shown Benny, Zara and our family right from the start of our oncology journey. Their fundraising efforts have been nothing short of relentless.

We also wanted to say thank you so much to all of the parents and carers who have donated, shown kindness and supported us at such a difficult time. It really means a lot to us!

💙

A BIG BIG thank you to all of our parents/carers and staff for the efforts over the last few weeks in regards to raising money for Stand by Benny. Benny is a five year old little boy who unfortunately relapsed with neuroblastoma in September 2025 and the treatment he needs is in Rome so we are supporting the family with raising money to get Benny there. We have had so many wonderful donations and held a fantastic raffle across all three of our nursery sites. Some of our staff also took part in a sponsored walk on Saturday. We are so happy to tell you all we have raised a fantastic £4959 and still have donations still coming in!💚💚
Clever Clogs Day Nursery Belmont
Little Ladybirds Day Nursery