Plymouth family has spent £12,000 taking their seriously ill son to London children's hospital as charity demands change

Laurie Grimwade and her husband Dave have spent £12,350 travelling between Plymouth and Great Ormond Street Hospital with their son Woody, 12, who lives with a rare autoimmune condition and underwent a bone marrow transplant in 2022. The family expects costs to reach £15,000 by Woody's 18th birthday and has been ineligible for any existing travel support. GOSH Charity is urging the Government to expand its new £10 million cancer travel fund to cover children with any serious illness, not just those with cancer.

GOSH Charity chief executive Louise Parkes warned 'no parent should be worrying about whether they can afford the train fare or petrol'.

The Government is set to introduce a £10 million annual fund for families of cancer patients, but children with other rare and life-threatening conditions are left out of the scheme.

Laurie Grimwade said the family had to rely on driving throughout Woody's first year of treatment because his compromised immune system made train travel impossible, with every round trip costing hundreds of pounds.