Ed Sheeran helped fund Tom Parker's private medical treatment during the late singer's brave battle against brain cancer, it has been revealed.
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The Wanted star died in March of this year at the age of 33 after being diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumour in October 2020, surrounded by his wife Kelsey, two children, Aurelia and Bodhi, as well as other family members.
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His memoir, Hope: My Inspirational Life, is set to be released later this month, and in it, he has chronicled how chart-topping singer and close friend Ed contacted him not long after his stage four glioblastoma diagnosis to see if he could help in any way, before offering to finance his medical bills.
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In an excerpt from the book obtained by The Sun, Tom said: "Pretty much from the moment I was diagnosed, Ed Sheeran, reached out to me with an offer to do anything he could to help.
"Ed and I have known each other since he joined The Wanted on our tour bus during a promotion trip in America more than ten years ago," he continued. "We've always run into each other over the years and had a great relationship.
Tom and Ed had been friends for years before his death in March 2022
"I've never publicly said this before (and he'll probably be mad that I'm doing it now) but Ed is a very special man — he even helped out with my medical bills when I was seeking other treatment options and having private immunotherapy."
He added: "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."
Hope: My Inspirational Journey by Tom Parker, £20, Amazon
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Elsewhere in the extract, Tom revealed that his wife and brother Lewis had persuaded him not to find out his prognosis after doctors told him that his results showed that he had the 'worst case scenario' of an aggressive, fast-growing form of the brain cancer.
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"I needed to be able to live with hope and they wanted to protect me from anything that would have damaged that," he wrote.
Tom sadly passed away on March 30 2022 after completing a reunion tour with his The Wanted bandmates Max George, Siva Kaneswaren, Jay McGuiness and Nathan Sykes.
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