Overview
- The BBC staged a One Big Thank You surprise that culminated on Friday when Tom Cruise walked into an interview and publicly thanked Lloyd Kembrey for his fundraising.
- Kembrey is a facilities manager at the University of Bristol who has long supported children's hospice charity Jessie May after his twin cousins, Francesca and Josephine, were diagnosed with Sanfilippo syndrome type A and later died in their teens.
- Over the past year Kembrey completed a series of extreme endurance challenges to raise funds, including a 31-mile ice‑skating ultramarathon in Finland, climbing the equivalent height of Mount Everest on a climbing wall, and a 94‑mile walk along the Jurassic Coast.
- Cruise invited Kembrey to the world premiere of his film Digger and praised his efforts, and former Jessie May chief executive Daniel Cheesman said the money Kembrey raised helps the charity provide direct in‑home care to seriously ill children.
- Sanfilippo syndrome type A is a rare, fatal genetic disorder that causes severe progressive brain damage in children, which explains Kembrey’s personal drive and the practical impact his fundraising has had for families using Jessie May’s services.