50,000 back mum’s cancer petition

Brandon Hackett, who lived in the town centre, was a ‘fit young lad’ who went to the gym and had a particular interest in weightlifting and powerlifting.

In August 2021, he started to get back pains that got progressively worse.

He, along with his mum, Clare Eager, went to the doctor only to be told that they believed it was just an overworked muscle from the gym.

The pain continued to worsen and physio sessions didn’t work and neither did the stretches he was told to do.

He was eventually diagnosed with Ewing’s sarcoma - a type of cancer that begins as a growth of cells in the bones and mainly affects young people - leaving 19-year-old Brandon and his family devastated.

It left him paralysed from the waist down and he underwent nine months of ‘harsh’ chemotherapy and radiotherapy, endless infections and transfusions.

However, Brandon believed he had the all-clear in June 2022.

Clare, 50, who lives off Dodworth Road, told the Chronicle: “The doctors thought that everything was fine and then in July and August he started to get stronger.

“He was even able to walk on his own without an aide.

“But towards the end of August he started to get some pains in his left shoulder.

“We thought that it might be a blood clot because of his treatment so we went to the doctors and because of his treatment they sent us straight to A and E - he wasn’t very happy about that.

“They did a scan and found sine fluid on his lungs which turned out to be pleural effusion.

“Three weeks later on September 9 he died - he didn’t get to reach his 21st birthday.”