Gordonstoun girl raises thousands for Brain Tumour Research in memory of Army veteran stepdad
Register for free to read more of the latest local news. It's easy and will only take a moment.
A GORDONSTOUN pupil has raised thousands of pounds for Brain Tumour Research in memory of her stepdad.
Sixth-former Scarlett Sykes (18) lost her stepdad, Paul Malcolm, to an aggressive brain tumour in 2018, just weeks after he was diagnosed with the devastating disease.
Scarlett, who joined Gordonstoun in 2019, said: "My stepdad, Paul, was a registered mental health nurse and a reservist in the British Army.
"He led a fantastically full life, even studying for a degree in fine art while juggling his career as a frontline NHS worker.
"He’d done two operational tours of Afghanistan and was extremely fit and healthy. He exercised daily and was a vegetarian. His diagnosis with a grade-3 brain tumour in April 2018 came as a huge shock."
In spring 2018, Paul’s family began to notice some unusual symptoms. He was becoming clumsy, forgetful and eventually became nauseous.
Scarlett, who grew up in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, said: "Eventually my mum became so worried about him, she took him to A&E. That’s when they scanned him and found a brain tumour."
Paul was admitted to hospital in Nottingham, where a biopsy was carried out.
Scarlett said: "He was told the tumour was too big to try to remove with surgery. It was in his frontal lobe. The histology report from the biopsy revealed it was a high-grade tumour but after the procedure, he was really badly affected. He very quickly got drastically worse and could barely communicate or recognise his own family.
"They gave him radiotherapy to try to control the disease but the tumour was very aggressive and by then it was too late. He died on July 24, 2018, aged 48."
As well as Scarlett, Paul left behind her older brother, Charlie, and his partner, Samantha, a fellow NHS mental health nurse.
Scarlett added: "I was only 15 at the time and couldn’t really comprehend what had happened. He’d become ill so quickly and declined rapidly. It took a huge toll on my mum. She and Paul were planning to get married."
Scarlett attended Samworth Church Academy, in Mansfield, a partner school of Gordonstoun. Every year Gordonstoun offers a scholarship for a Samworth pupil to attend for sixth form.
Scarlett said: "From a young age, I’d had my heart set on applying for the scholarship. I thought Gordonstoun looked so cool, a bit like Hogwarts. When the opportunity came, however, we’d just lost Paul and I didn’t want to leave my mum. But Paul had always been 100 per cent behind me applying and thought I’d do really well there. I put my application in and, out of a year group of 300 or so students, I was selected.
"I felt so proud to have done it for Paul.
"I became history captain and a member of the school council. I’ve loved playing rugby for the school and representing Gordonstoun in netball and hockey."
When Scarlett turned 18 in January, she marked her big birthday by setting up a Facebook fundraiser to raise money for Brain Tumour Research in memory of her stepdad, raising £1500.
A member of Hopeman House at Gordonstoun, Scarlett's school friends then joined her fundraising efforts and the house chose Brain Tumour Research as their charity to support for the summer term.
Scarlett said: "I came up with the idea of a fundraising event, inspired by the famous morning runs, which were a compulsory part of the Gordonstoun curriculum until the 1990s. Traditionally, more than 100 students and staff, running in household groups, would undertake a daily 3.5km run from Gordonstoun House to the nearby Coastguard Watchtower, a building which replaced a wooden hut, which Prince Philip helped to build in 1935.
"I organised a similar, sponsored event, which involved a very early wake-up, followed by a jaunt to the watchtower, where we spotted dolphins, and came back for breakfast. Eighty people took part, across all the year groups, raising £1500 for Brain Tumour Research."
Joe Woollcott, from Brain Tumour Research, said: "What Scarlett has done in memory of her stepdad is truly inspiring. She has turned a terrible situation into something really positive and has raised the equivalent amount to fund a day’s research at one of our Centres of Excellence, which is phenomenal."
Scarlett is now awaiting her A-level results and hopes to go to Goldsmiths University, in London, to study psychology.
