Milton Keynes charity announces Chelsea and England footballer as patron

Shay’s Smiles was founded in memory of Shayen Patel (known to all as Shay) who passed away, aged 13, in September 2020, 22 months after being diagnosed with a glioblastoma (GBM) brain tumour. Shay’s Smiles is a Member Charity of Brain Tumour Research, also based in Milton Keynes, and funds a PhD researcher at the Brain Tumour Research Centre of Excellence at Queen Mary University of London (Queen Mary), as well as providing financial assistance to families of children with terminal brain tumours.

Chelsea and England footballer Ben Chilwell was raised in Ridgemont and in his younger years played for Woburn Lions (now Woburn and Wavendon Football Club). He started his professional career at Leicester City before joining Chelsea in 2020, winning the 2020/21 UEFA Champions League in his first season with the club.

At international level, Chilwell made his debut for England in 2018 and was a member of the squad at the UEFA Euro 2020.

Mum Niki O’Dea Patel, a trustee of Shay’s Smiles, said: “Shay was a devoted Chelsea supporter and also loved to play for his local Woburn and Wavendon FC team. He followed Ben’s career closely, inspired by their shared grassroots team. Significantly, Ben was signed to Chelsea just a few weeks before Shay’s death, and symbolically wears the 21 jersey, which was also Shay’s favourite number as they were both born on the 21st.”

Hearing of Shay’s death, Ben reached out to the family with a message of condolence and has since lent his support to the charity.

Ben said: “I was saddened to hear of Shay’s death and shocked to learn of the terminal prognosis of these types of brain tumours. I am proud to be a patron of Shay’s Smiles to help raise awareness of glioblastoma brain tumours.”

Niki added: “We are honoured to have Ben as patron of Shay’s Smiles and to work alongside him in our aim of changing the landscape for children diagnosed with high-grade brain tumours. Shay would have been incredibly proud that Ben is patron of his legacy.”

Paediatric glioblastoma (GBM) which affects children and young adults has an extremely poor clinical outcome with less than 5% of patients surviving more than two years. Median survival is just nine to 18 months.

Dan Knowles, CEO of Brain Tumour Research, said: “We’re really grateful to our Member Charity Shay’s Smiles for its support as we focus on finding a cure for all types of brain tumours. The charity is sponsoring a PhD researcher within a dedicated team at Queen Mary focusing on finding more effective treatments for GBM and ultimately a cure, with an investment of £143,657 over a four-year period.

“Brain tumours kill more children and adults under the age of 40 than any other cancer, and yet just 1% of the national spend on cancer research has been allocated to this devastating disease since records began in 2002. This has to change to bring hope to families affected in the future.”

Brain Tumour Research funds sustainable research at dedicated centres in the UK. It also campaigns for the Government and larger cancer charities to invest more in research into brain tumours in order to speed up new treatments for patients and, ultimately, to find a cure. The charity is the driving force behind the call for a national annual spend of £35 million in order to improve survival rates and patient outcomes in line with other cancers such as breast cancer and leukaemia.

To donate in memory of Shay go to www.shayssmiles.org