Ed Sheeran helped Tom Parker with medical bills during brain cancer treatment
Ed Sheeran helped to pay for some of the medical treatment that late Wanted star Tom Parker received during his time battling brain cancer.
Parker told fans in October, 2020 that he had been diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumour, and after 18 months of fighting the disease, he died this past March.
“It is with the heaviest of hearts that we confirm Tom passed away peacefully earlier today with all of his family by his side,” the singer’s wife, Kelsey, wrote in a post on her Instagram page.
In his posthumous autobiography, Hope, which is due to be released on May 26, Parker reveals that Sheeran helped pay for some of his medical bills while undergoing treatment for the cancer.
“Pretty much from the moment I was diagnosed, Ed Sheeran reached out to me with an offer to do anything he could to help,” Parker writes in excerpts from the book which were published by The Sun today (May 14).
Parker goes on to call Sheeran “a very special man” and adds that the ‘Shape Of You’ hitmaker will “probably be mad” that he’s revealing how he “helped out” with his medical bills when Parker was seeking other treatment options alongside private immunotherapy.
“He didn’t need to do any of that, but my wife Kelsey and I are so grateful to him for his support. It meant the world,” Parker writes in his upcoming book.
At the time of Parker’s passing, Sheeran paid tribute on Instagram writing: “So sad to hear of Tom’s passing. Thoughts and love are with Kelsey, his children and his family. Very sad day, what a lovely guy x”
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Meanwhile, Ed Sheeran was among more than 35 musicians who supported this month’s Teenage Cancer Trust auction.
The artists donated items for the charity’s Star Boot Sale fundraiser, which started on April 29 and ended on May 12. Sheeran donated some rare guitar plectrums to the charity.
Some of the other goods that were up for grabs included flights to New York and a VIP experience at The Who’s Madison Square Garden gig, a Jake Bugg-signed Ibiza Rocks drumhead, a signed Depeche Mode guitar, Noel Gallagher’s signed trainers, Stereophonics‘ signed drumsticks, and an AC/DC-signed poster.
Take That, Paul Weller, Jools Holland, and The Vaccines also contributed to the auction.