How a family devastated by cancer thanked their community

When eight-year-old Hamish Hey died from cancer his family were devastated.

They could have been overwhelmed when the disease took his mum just three years later.

But the family channelled their grief into work to revitalise parts of their local community as a thank you for the support they received during their darkest time.

Hamish's home was in Nairn, a seaside town on Scotland's Moray Firth coast with sandy beaches stretching to the east and west.

He shared the same 4 October birthday as his older sister Lily.

Mum Susan was an art teacher in the local secondary school and dad Sam is an architect.

"Hamish was such a character," said Sam.

"He had the same beautiful blue eyes and blonde hair as his mum."

When he was two years old he was diagnosed with a metastatic alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma - a rare and aggressive soft tissue cancer.

He had a tumour in one of his knees, and the cancer spread to his lungs.

Hamish and his parents moved to Glasgow to be closer to the treatment and medical teams he needed.

Lily stayed in Nairn with her grandparents - Susan's mum and dad, Liz and Danny Bow.

Sam said it was 14 months of "dreadful" treatment for Hamish - including chemo and radiotherapy for his lungs.

He said: "Hamish then had the most amazing surgery called rotationplasty by a talented surgeon in Glasgow.

"It involved taking out his knee, rotating the bottom half of his leg around and making his ankle his knee and having a prosthetic.

"Hamish called it his 'special leg'."

During 2012, Hamish was able to return home to Nairn and he started attending school.

His granny Liz said: "He just carried on regardless. Nothing held him back."

But in 2015, Susan was diagnosed with breast cancer and began a "rigorous" course of treatment. Her cancer too spread to her lungs.

She completed her radiotherapy in January the following year.

"I remember it vividly," said Sam.

"Susan said 2016 was going to be a good year because Hamish was going through his treatment and he was doing well, and she had just finished her treatment.

"Then in February 2016 we noticed something unusual with Hamish. He was struggling with his balance."

Scans revealed that Hamish had an incurable tumour in his brain stem. It was unrelated to his first cancer.

Sam said: "A paediatric oncologist described it as like putting pepper in yogurt. You just couldn't get the tumour out.

"There was nothing you could do."

Sam said the family were determined to make the best of life, going on trips together and raising money for the charities supporting them.

They had about a year with Hamish. He died in February 2017.

Sam recalled how on almost every day for a week the family spotted rainbows from Nairn.

It inspired the rainbow logo of TeamHamish, the charity the family set up in his name.

The fundraising effort was ramped up, even after Susan was diagnosed with secondary cancer in November 2017. It was incurable.

Hamish's grandad Danny, a keen runner, helped organise a running race and a shorter fun run.

More than 1,000 people took part, many of them from Nairn.

Some of the runners wore underpants on their heads - a tribute to past antics of Hamish.

Sam explained: "Hamish had one day come through from his room wearing pants on his head.

"When Susan had asked him why he said 'well you left two pairs out for me and I put one on my head'."

Lily, now 18 and studying at university, was recognised for her TeamHamish fundraising with an invitation to the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in 2018.

In 2020, during the Covid pandemic, Susan's health deteriorated. The cancer had spread to her brain.

She died in May of that year.

Lockdown restrictions meant only a handful of people could attend her funeral.

Liz said: "Lockdown was awful, and awful for things like that.

"But people contacted the family and said they wanted to come, but they couldn't.

"So they lined the streets of Nairn instead."

The route of the funeral cortege was extended to allow people to social distance.

It included the beach-front Links, where TeamHamish has now revamped two community spaces.

The first project transformed a rundown outdoor children's paddling pool.

Working with Highland Council, TeamHamish created the new Splashpad.

It was officially opened by Queen Camilla, when she was the Duchess of Rothesay.

In the past few weeks the new terraced area was made available to the public.

"It's a very different space to the Splashpad," said Sam.

"It's somewhere people can gather and take in the view. A place for contemplation."

He added: "The charity's work would not be possible without the support from the community of Nairn.

"So many people have helped us."

There are now plans to finish off the terraced area with outdoor furniture designed by local community groups and schools.

TeamHamish hopes to match the determination Hamish and Susan showed during some of their hardest times.

Liz said: "We've plans. We want to keep going."