Our beautiful son and big brother to Heidi, Ethan, passed away on the 13th of March 2025, just 20 days away from his 16th birthday.
Ethan was such a happy, fun, and intelligent boy and made all aspects of life with family and friends more enjoyable with his endless enthusiasm.
He loved running and swimming, music (especially Oasis), watching Watford FC and England, darts, theme parks, films, TV, holidays and so much more.
We miss him so much every single day.
Out of the blue, he hadn't felt his usual self and what the doctors initially thought was a chest infection, was actually a very rare type of bone cancer.
We were devastated, but Ethan took it in his indomitable style. We cancelled our summer holiday and instead within ten days were in the Elephant Ward at Great Ormond Street for the first of 15 brutal chemotherapy treatments.
Just before Christmas 2018 he underwent major surgery having 3 ribs and part of his lung and diaphragm removed. Early the following year he also underwent radiotherapy while continuing with the chemo.
Ethan was in remission for over 2 years, most of which was during COVID times. However, he embraced lockdown and made the most of it. He really took to school online, joining all lessons on camera and participating fully.
He ran and walked when he felt able, he joined swimming club online workouts, learnt new skills, loved playing cards, board games and puzzles.
A favourite was the Rubik's Cube, which he could complete in less than 30 seconds.
Over the next three and a half years he again faced gruelling treatments, months in hospital and multiple operations including open heart surgery.
He took on the challenge, never complaining, always remaining positive, and enjoying and living life to its fullest.
Between chemo treatments in 2022 we managed a ten-day trip to Qatar to watch England in the World Cup and we had season tickets at Watford, attending as many games as possible.
In his last year with us Ethan found a new love of darts. We converted our garage into a games room with a dartboard and within a few months he was a very competent darts player racking up over 50 180s and joining a men's darts team and winning player of the season and the highest checkout awards.
Incredibly through all his treatment and therefore absences from school, he kept up with his schoolwork and was predicted to achieve high grades in all his GCSEs after performing well in his mock exams.
He had a big circle of close friends who would get together most Friday evenings and play poker, darts, and other games. They would all stay in touch during his periods of absence from school and they also miss him dearly.
We have created this fund to both raise awareness of Ewing sarcoma and to raise money to fund vital research. Ewing sarcoma is an incredibly rare type of Bone Cancer which mainly affects young people.
There is little government funding into research for this type of cancer which means treatments have barely advanced in decades.
We want to raise funds so that we can fund more research and find improved treatments so that anyone who has to fight this horrendous disease has a better chance of a positive outcome unlike Ethan and others before him.
They fund ground-breaking research, life-saving awareness initiatives and provide dedicated and trustworthy information and support to patients and all their loved ones... all without any government funding.
They rely 100% on people like you supporting their work through donations.
Thank you for supporting The Ethan King Ewing Sarcoma Research Fund.
Jim, Clara & Heidi King. (Ethan's parents and sister)
You can make a donation or pay in funds raised by cheque, payable to Bone Cancer Research Trust, to:
Bone Cancer Research Trust, 10 Feast Field, Horsforth, Leeds, LS18 4TJ.
Please ensure you make it clear that the donation is for The Ethan King Ewing Sarcoma Research Fund so that your donation is allocated to the correct fund.
100% of donations to The Ethan King Ewing Sarcoma Research Fund will go towards our life-saving work.
