Reuben’s Story
On Friday 31st August 2012 Reuben’s family Mike, Nicola and Isaac Graham said their final goodbye to their gorgeous 23 month old son and little brother during a beautiful ceremony in their home village of Mottram 11 miles from Manchester Vicar James Halstead from St Michael All Angels Church conducted a wonderful ceremony. Reuben’s parents showed such courage & bravery as they individually spoke words of sadness, love and laughter as they paid tribute to their wonderful son Reuben Michael Graham. Reuben’s Mummy & Daddy, family, god parents and friends vowed that his life would not have been lost in vain and that he would leave a lasting legacy.
Every parents worse nightmare
Reuben was enjoying a family holiday in Devon; he was his usual happy self, having fun crabbing with his older brother Isaac. Reuben had been ill for 3 weeks on and off and despite several Doctors visits, nobody was unduly worried. He would be sick in a morning and then he would recover within minutes and be fine for the rest of the day. A tell-tale sign for things to come, but never in their wildest nightmares could they have known what was about to happen. Reuben had a fall and became pale and distressed, his worried parents took him to A & E at Barnstaple Hospital and when Reuben failed to respond to some routine tests he was sent for a CT scan. The scan showed a large mass on his brain they suspected to be a tumour. He was quickly transferred to the neurological unit at Frenchay Hospital by air ambulance where he underwent hours of surgery to relieve the pressure on his brain. Plans were quickly put in place for further surgery but sadly Reuben arrested during the night and his organs began to fail, despite fighting his way through another 5 hour operation some two days later he was too poorly to undergo any further surgery. He was transferred again to PICU at Bristol Children’s Hospital so they could help his organs to recover. Reuben fell asleep in his Mummy’s arms on Tuesday 21st August 2012.
The diagnosis
Reuben had suffered an ATRT which is Atypical terratoid rhabdoid tumour, it is a very rare and aggressive form of Cancerous tumour, only 4 to 5 children will be diagnosed with this tumour in the UK per year and there are very few symptoms.
A legacy in his name
Despite the devastating grief that comes when a quarter of your family is gone, his brave and inspirational parents set up the charity in his name, hoping to create a retreat in the North West countryside for children with life limiting and life threatening illnesses, plus a bereavement support and counselling centre for Mummy’s, Daddy’s and siblings who have lost their precious children. A place where families can take in the rolling hills and countryside, a place of comfort, peace and tranquillity, a place where memories can be made.
Our Blog View all
And we’re off!
We are thrilled to announce that on this day, Monday 25th March 2019, the building works began for Phases 4, 5 & 6!!!! It’s such a monumental day in Reuben’s Retreat’s history that I wish we could capture a piece of it in a little jar to share with you! We kicked the project off…
25th March
Our first milestone of 2019
We always knew that 2019 was going to be mega busy from the get-go, and normally we thrive off of the pace. But it saddens our hearts when the demand for our support services spike, because what that means in real terms is that there are more families facing the most heart-breaking of times. 23 days…
6th February
What's Happening View all
Upcoming Events
Our most up-to-date information can be found on our Facebook Events page, but here’s a taster of Reuben’s Retreat’s upcoming activities… 26-27th April 2019 (night climb): Snowdon SunRaise We are really excited to be returning to Snowdon again this year! The first Snowdon SunRaise sold out super quick and was an amazing experience for…
REUBall 2019
Following on from the amazing success of REUBall’s move to Bury in 2018, we are delighted to announce we’re returning for our 2019 spectacular and tickets are now on sale! Tickets are £55 per person and are available through our web shop or by calling 01457 680023. We ask for a £15 per person deposit with the balance due…
Make a Donation 
All donations are greatly appreciated no matter how small.
We are pleased to have the facility for our supporters to set up a regular donation from £5 a month upwards.
If you are an individual UK tax payer please remember to click Gift Aid this allows Reuben’s Retreat to reclaim the 25% basic tax rate on every donation made by an individual UK tax payer and it doesn’t cost you anything!