Grieving friends speak of love for cancer patient

Three friends of a cancer patient who died a week after he turned 20 have spoken of their love for him.

Leo Firth, from Crawley, in West Sussex, was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia (AML), a rare cancer of the blood and bone marrow, in 2023.

After undergoing several rounds of chemotherapy, as well as radiotherapy and a stem cell transplant, treatment options ran out and he died on 31 October.

Now his friends, Max Miller, Jakub Mihal and Elliot Hounslow have spoken out to highlight the importance of talking about grief.

Max said they made sure to tell Leo he was loved: "We said that to him as much as we could," he said.

"It might be a bit cringe, or something, to say it to your mate as a man, but I think it is important as well."

Elliot added: "We started to tell him a lot more over the years. You're going into a room where you're friend is unfortunately sadly passing away."

Jakub said it was "better to get it out" and be "healed".

"Keeping it all in, eventually you're just going to break," he aded.

"That's why it's really important to talk out about these things."

The three are planning a walk from Land's End to Crawley in Leo's memory.

"One long walk. Every mile, every step for our mate Leo, that's [what] we keep saying," Max said.

"This will kind of show the lengths we are willing to go to to try and give our mate love."

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