A dad who has spent the last decade raising awareness of childhood cancers has been awarded the British Empire Medal.
Lord Lieutenant of Lanarkshire, Lady Susan Haughey CBE presented the accolade to Graham Reid, from Coatbridge, at a ceremony in South Lanarkshire Council Headquarters, Hamilton this week.
The event was hosted by South Lanarkshire Provost Iain McAllan, and attended by North Lanarkshire Provost Jean Jones and the Chief Executives of both councils as well as Graham’s wider family.
Graham’s BEM was granted by the Queen in honour and gratitude for his unstinting charity work since the death of his six-year-old son David in 2008 from the rare cancer non-hodgkins lymphoma.
Nominated by his colleagues at HMRC in East Kilbride, David is described as someone who brings ‘an empathy and kindness’ to his work place. Since returning to work after the loss of David, he had also been pivotal in promoting mental health awareness as well as engaging staff with his fundraising efforts.
These efforts particularly benefited the Glasgow Children’s Hospital Charity (previously Yorkhill) for whom he has raised an incredible £110,000 to date.
Provost McAllan said: “I am proud to honour an individual who, against the background of a personal tragedy, has sought to make life better for others.
“Graham and his family have turned the unimaginable loss of a child into a determination to prevent as many others as possible from going through the same experience.
“Such courage and determination is genuinely awe-inspiring and I am personally humbled by the legacy Graham has created in David’s memory.”