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Community rallies round for 'one of a kind' teacher

BBC Stephen Webb wearing glasses and a black T-shirt. He is standing outside, and there are trees and bushes behind himBBC
Stephen Webb has been described as the teacher "you wish you had"

A community is coming together to try and raise £150,000 for treatment for a teacher who has been diagnosed with a brain tumour.

Stephen Webb, the co-head of English at Hastings High School, in Burbage, Leicestershire, was diagnosed with glioblastoma just over a month ago.

Doctors told him there was the option of private immunotherapy, which may prolong his life by training the body to fight the tumour.

Mr Webb, 40, said his family set up a GoFundMe page for the treatment on Friday, and so far, more than £100,000 has been raised, adding: "What people have begun to do to us is a debt we can't repay. They are buying us time."

Stephen Webb Stephen Webb and his two children Stephen Webb
Mr Webb has two young children

Mr Webb will undergo an operation on Thursday to remove the tumour.

Chemotherapy and radiotherapy will follow and – hopefully – immunotherapy injections.

As well as thousands of individual donations, people are raising money in many ways, including bake sales and bingo events.

An appeal called "Save Our Stephen" is taking place on Wednesday, where almost 1,000 staff and pupils will spell out the letters SOS on the school field, accompanied by a QR code for donations.

A drone will take a photograph, which will be shared to encourage donations.

Mr Webb and his fiancé Cheryl
Mr Webb, here with his fiancé Cheryl, say they were getting outpourings of love and support from the community

The father of two, from Burbage, said: "We keep pinching ourselves – we did not expect this.

"They have given us hope in this darkest possible time."

Mr Webb said the way the immunotherapy worked was by taking the tumour, after it had been removed, and creating a vaccine that trained the body to fight the tumour.

He added the tumour would affect his ability to speak and understand.

"The idea that your life has been cut very short is devastating for us," he said.

"It is a case of trying to navigate the time we have left."

Pupil Marcus who has blonde curly hair and is wearing a navy blue t-shirt saying Hastings High School
Pupil Marcus said: "I want to see him go on for his kids, like my mum did for me"

Claire Bradley, co-head teacher, said: "Mr Webb is our heart and soul of our Hastings family, so to find out that news, especially when he is so young, is shocking and devastating.

"He is one of a kind. Mr Webb is the teacher that you never forget. He is the teacher you wish you had.

"He is the teacher you really want your children to have because he has such an impact on young people’s lives."

Pupil Marcus, 15, said: "At similar to his son's age, at 12, I was told about my mum and how she had terminal cancer. She was given six months then. She is still going now, fighting.

"It feels like another hit. I want to see him go on for his kids, like my mum did for me."

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