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Runners and spectators at the Littlehampton 10K in September may have been surprised to see a whole football team running past. The group of youngsters from Worthing Town Football Club ran in memory of their friend and clubmate, Patrick Lownds, who died in 2021 at the age of ten.

Patrick was an active, popular nine-year-old when he was diagnosed with malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumour, a type of sarcoma. It is an extremely rare form of cancer, with only 50 paediatric cases across the whole of Europe in the last 10 years.

“Patrick was larger than life,” says his dad, Ryan. “He loved sports, he liked to laugh, loved music and dancing.

“There wasn’t a day he wasn’t busy: he was a member of Worthing Town football team and sea-swimming was one of his favourite things to do. He was also a Beaver, he practised kung fu and he played basketball.

The family watching London Lions while in London for radiotherapy

“Patrick was a child who threw himself into everything. He was a real character – very talkative, and he didn’t miss a trick, but he was also kind and sensitive.

"He was - and still is - the centre of our world" Worthing youngsters run in memory of teammate, 10