Update – 2025
We are delighted to be able to provide an update on the work which has taken place over the last twelve months.
In our last financial year which ended on 31st October 2025, we informed the Charities Commission that £15,721.00 was raised during the previous twelve months. This makes the total raised since 12th October 2011 and amazing £570,702.50.
We are continually amazed at the generosity of everyone who donates to Alex’s legacy and remain truly grateful to so many fantastic individuals and organisations who, without their amazing support, none of this work would be possible.
This last year has seen a continued development as we continue to strive to provide better outcomes for children diagnosed with B-NHL.
There has been steady progress in a couple of areas, firstly, our involvement with the world wide trial (GLO-BNHL) as well as the laboratory work undertaken by Suzanne and Chris which we directly fund. Chris has kindly provided an update into the work he has undertaken, a copy of which can be seen below.
Throughout 2025, we have been involved in supporting the ongoing world wide GLO-BHL trial.
We sit on the overarching Trail Management Group and the Committee overseeing one of the treatment arms.
In addition, we work as part of the Patient Advisory Group (PAG) along with other patient advocates from around the world. This group directly advises the trail co-ordinators on how documentation for the trial is developed to ensure the best interests of the patients are at the forefront of work and treatments undertaken.
Effectively we are the eyes and ears of patients which sits alongside the scientific and analytical work of the trial.
The implementation of the trial itself is moving at a pace as we work to provide a better prognosis for children.
For more information on the trial, please visit;
https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/research/crctu/trials/glo-bnhl
One other piece of news is that Alex’s younger brother Matt has now become heavily involved in supporting the work of the GLO-BNHL.
Matt now sits on the Patient Advisory Group and attends the Trial Management Group when he can. To this end we are delighted to say that in October 2025 Matt became a Trustee of the Alex Hulme Foundation.
Whilst we work in helping children who are already suffering with B-NHL by giving them a better prognosis and kinder treatment regimes, our main focus remains in funding Chris’s work to look at the causes of B-NHL, why current treatments don’t work as well as is hoped and also if and how we can prevent children getting the disease in the first place.
Looking back, it is amazing to think how far we have come and how work has not only progressed but continues to move forward. It is so rewarding, and comforting, that Alex’s name is known throughout the world and that without his legacy, none of this work would be taking place.
Thank you to everyone who provides such viable support to us and to Alex’s legacy. We will never be able to express our gratitude enough.
TOGETHER WE ARE MAKING A DIFFERENCE
With Best wishes
Dave, Nic *Alex* & Matt xx
Research Overview – 2025
Over the past year we have made important progress in understanding what makes relapsed childhood B cell lymphoma so difficult to treat.
In previous work funded by the Alex Hulme Foundation, we developed a unique collection of tumour models created by growing small pieces of patients’ tumours in specially bred laboratory mice. These models allow us to study real relapse tumours in a living system.
Using advanced single-cell technologies, we have now been able to look inside these tumours at an unprecedented level of detail, analysing thousands of individual cancer cells one by one. This has allowed us to ask a crucial question: what is different about the cells that survive treatment and drive relapse?
What we are beginning to see is striking.
Across relapse tumours derived from multiple different patients, we have identified a distinct group of cancer cells that exhibit unexpected characteristics. This has delivered a major shift in how we think about relapse in childhood lymphoma. Importantly, we identified this population using several completely independent approaches, giving us strong confidence that these cells are real and biologically meaningful.
Our next step is to better understand the biological pathways that allow these relapse-driving cells to survive, and how we can target them with new treatments. Because we have the PDX models in place, something only possible thanks to your support, we are uniquely positioned to test these ideas directly in growing human tumours.
Work of this nature has never been done before in relapsed childhood B cell lymphoma. It is only possible because of the vision and generosity of the Alex Hulme Foundation and its supporters.
We are incredibly grateful for your continued support. It allows us to pursue research that would otherwise be overlooked and that has the potential to change outcomes for children facing this devastating disease.
With thanks and best wishes,
Christopher J. Steel