Cosham man raises more than £10,000 for cancer research in memory of his mum

Since registering The Karen Ingram Foundation as a charity in 2020, Cosham resident Tom Ingram has surpassed the £10,000 mark and will donate it all to the Southampton Centre For Cancer Immunology to undertake clinical trials.

As reported, his mum Karen died in 2008 at the age of just 40 after a recent diagnosis of non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

Tom, now 26, started fundraising in her name a few months later with thousands donated to a variety of local cancer charities over the years including Portsmouth Hospital’s NHS trust which cared and looked after Karen.

He said: ‘We are really pleased to have reached this important milestone and would like to thank everybody who has supported us to get to this stage.

‘I've been overwhelmed with the support from the public, especially during the last year. To raise such a fantastic amount in such a short period of time is testament to the hard work and determination by our small team and I am truly thankful for their ongoing support.

‘My mum was always very selfless and doing things for other people. If we can continue in that sort of spirit, I think she would be happy knowing her legacy is still very much about helping people and hopefully doing some good in the world.’

Fundraising activities since registering the charity have included meet and greet days with mascot Muddles the bear at Paultons Park as well as a variety of virtual fundraisers during the pandemic.

SEE ALSO: 1,400 QA Hospital patients receive presents on Christmas Day

Tom also recently received a letter from the Queen in regards to his work.

He added: ‘We were delighted to have received a letter from her majesty, the Queen in response to our recent appeal to highlight the importance of funding research in to the blood cancer non-Hodgkin lymphoma. While we appreciate her majesty is unable to assist personally, we are very grateful to have received a response and we hope her majesty enjoyed reading all about our cause and what we aim to do and indeed the opportunity to further raise awareness in to this terrible disease.’

To find out more or to make a donation visit kareningram.org.

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

Subscribe here for unlimited access to all our coverage, including Pompey, for just 26p a day.