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SIMON JAMES BRUNTON
19th July 1982 - 18th April 1998
Total disbelief
Even though we had been given the news that the cancer was back, we couldn't equate that with
what we were seeing. Simon seemed so strong and well, he was still doing his physio and going
to school. It was even harder letting him go to school now, we wanted to keep him to ourselves,
every minute of every day, but we knew that wouldn't be fair to him, he needed the stimulus
that others could offer. He did so enjoy going to school and seeing his friends.
Time and time again through this whole ordeal we had resisted the urge just to pick our kids
up and run away. After all, where would we go? This whole planet wasn't big enough to run
away from this problem, it would always be with us, wherever we went. There was so much we
wanted to do with Simon, but we daren't travel too far away from home in case he needed to
be taken into hospital quickly. There was no way we wanted to be stuck somewhere and have to
go into a different hospital.
Around the second week in February we received the news that Simon was to be presented with
The Scout Association's Medal for Meritorious Conduct. It was so nice that he was being
honoured in this way. He'd always loved Scouts and took an active part in whatever they
were doing. As his parents, we always knew how special Simon was, now everyone else was
finding out too. The evening of the presentation we were bursting with pride, but with tears
of pain running down our cheeks because we knew that the cancer had returned.
Simon couldn't see what all the fuss was about or why he was being sought out for special
attention, he always said that what he had been through was 'no big deal', he was always so
modest.
The Medal for Meritorious Conduct
'In recognition of his courage and determination to
cope with many obstacles and for being an
example to others in Scouting.'
It was around this time that we started spending the occasional weekend at Rainbows Children's
Hospice. We'd originally visited Rainbows with a view to some respite care because Simon was
doing so well, we thought we ought to think about him getting some independence. This was
before we got the news that the tumour was back. Now we would stay there as a family. It is
a truly wonderful place where you can elect to do as little or as much as you want to for
your child. Some parents would let their children spend weekends at Rainbows, thereby getting
a break, others, like Vince and I, would carrying on caring for our child, whilst the everyday
day chores were done for us.
It was hard work looking after Simon, a twenty-four-hour-a-day, seven-day-a-week job, but we
wouldn't have had it any other way, we didn't want anyone else looking after Simon. What
made life easier for us was to have the routine things like meals and laundry done for us,
it took an amazing amount of pressure off of us at a time when all we wanted was to spend
time with our children
A new and very special pal
It was while we were staying at Rainbows one weekend that we visited Twycross Zoo. They have
an excellent collection of primates and Simon had always loved 'monkeys' of all types, from
orang-utans to chimpanzees, he thought they were great. We asked if there was any chance of
Simon meeting a chimpanzee face to face. After some quick arrangements were made we were
invited in to meet Danny, an orphaned chimpanzee who had been reared by staff at the zoo.
We were warned that the chimp might take quite a while to acknowledge Simon, but Danny had
other ideas! Danny's keeper brought him into the room and sat down with him on a sofa,
but Danny covered the distance between the sofa and Simon's wheelchair in an instant and
gave Simon a wonderful cuddle, it brought tears to our eyes to see the look of pure joy on
Simon's face. This was a memory that would live with us forever.
There was such a special bond between Simon and Danny
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