2022 Winner
PRIDE OF MANCHESTER
Liam Preece
Brave teenager who started a YouTube channel to support fellow cancer sufferers.
Liam, 15, has endured two years of gruelling treatment for bone cancer, but despite his own challenges, he is determined to try and help others feel better.
The Stalybridge teenager was diagnosed with osteosarcoma, a type of bone cancer that had spread to other parts of his body, after suffering knee pain in 2020.
Mum Jodie says: “Liam had always been full of energy, always full of beans, always the crazy one in class and always so funny. When the consultant told us he had bone cancer, a cancer I had never heard of before, we were shattered. I had never heard of children having that type of cancer before. I could barely recognise him as my own child. He just looked so pale and drawn. It was very hard.”
After chemotherapy in Manchester, Liam was referred to The Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital in London. At his lowest point, his mouth was so blistered that he couldn’t eat or drink for ten days and he had further surgery to remove nodules from his lungs. Today, he continues to battle through daily and is home-schooling.
But as Liam’s elder sister Chloe, 20, explains: “He is constantly head up, and determined to smash it.”
Keen to help others going through treatment, Liam – who loves YouTube – started his own YouTube channel called ‘My Name is Liam’, to document his experiences and build awareness. Within days he had notched up 30,000 views on his first video alone.
“It helped, and it actually showed me that people cared about how I am doing,” says Liam.
His upbeat and honest clips and commentary have seen him attract 10,000 subscribers and shout-outs from other gamers and YouTubers.
Liam admits: “Having cancer puts you in a panic mode. It’s not like you can get on with your day without thinking about it. I’m keen to help others going through the same ordeal.”
In June 2021, the family found out that Liam had relapsed, but Liam was determined to keep on fighting. Comforting his mum he reassured her: “We have done it before, and we can do it again.”
Proud Jodie says: “The rollercoaster of emotions has been immensely difficult, he’s gone from being a young teenager who loved being with his friends, playing football to having to use a wheelchair.
“Yet Liam continues to be brave, happy, smiling and full of wit and laughter. He has kept the whole family going. He is an amazing boy with a heart of gold and a beautiful soul. He’s selfless and no words can describe how proud I am to be his mum.”