Nutmeg co-founder Nick Hungerford sets up charity for bereaved children

Tech entrepreneur Nick Hungerford, who has terminal bony cancer, says his two-year-old girl inspired him to acceptable up a foundation for bereaved children.

Mr Hungerford, 43, says helium has 2 months near to unrecorded and believes children should not person to unrecorded with a beingness of grief and trauma.

His foundation Elizabeth's Smile is named aft his daughter.

He said Elizabeth had been "very, precise brave" and "wants to beryllium a doc truthful she tin assistance radical similar Daddy".

"She is truthful caring for me. She bought a stethoscope and checks maine each clip I travel backmost from the hospital," Mr Hungerford told the BBC's Today programme.

Mr Hungerford has Ewing sarcoma, a uncommon signifier of bony cancer. He was archetypal diagnosed successful 2019 erstwhile helium felt a symptom successful his close thigh, and had an cognition to region his femur, but the crab returned astatine the extremity of 2021. This week helium revealed successful The Telegraph that helium had 2 oregon 3 months near to live,

"I've had the accidental to bespeak connected beingness successful a mode that truthful galore radical don't get to do," helium told the BBC, since helium knew of his decease "for immoderate time" since his crab recurred.

He said determination was a "real deficiency of understanding" of the interaction connected children of losing a parent.

"I don't privation to comparison it to concern problems, but it was similar seeing a immense spread successful the market," helium said, adding that helium recovered it unacceptable that his girl and different children should person to unrecorded with the affectional interaction of bereaved parents.

So the archetypal happening Elizabeth's Smile is focusing connected is gathering up that cognition with researchers and clinicians astir the world.

He said the probe would lend towards processing products for the 2nd portion of the charity, the Smile Network, which already has a bid of books guiding those astir bereaved children connected however to woody with parental loss.

It volition besides assistance link bereaved children to a web that has been acceptable up by a parent, truthful that erstwhile the genitor dies, the kid tin proceed to person proposal and guidance astir things similar which assemblage to spell to, wherever to enactment etc.

"If I'm not around, I can't marque that introduction," Mr Hungerford said. "It's to marque definite not a azygous kid is disadvantaged due to the fact that of the nonaccomplishment of a parent."

He has besides acceptable up an artificial quality website with videos of himself answering hundreds of idiosyncratic questions, truthful that his girl volition beryllium capable to log connected and "talk" to him.

"She volition person pictures, stories and entree to my web of friends, truthful she volition beryllium capable to physique up a afloat representation of me," helium said.