MATTHEW Bacon was just seven when he died in Butterwick House Children’s Hospice.

His short life was dictated by trauma, illness and setbacks after being born 13 weeks prematurely in Darlington Memorial Hospital on July 15, 1993.

Within days he suffered a brain haemorrhage and in October that year he was diagnosed with cerebral palsy. He was also a quadriplegic.

He was delivered after his mother, Angelina, miscarried with his twin and he spent his first few months in the specialist baby care unit at Princess Mary’s Hospital in Newcastle before being transferred to the city’s Royal Victoria Infirmary.

Matthew couldn’t walk, couldn’t hear and had limited vision. But his family fought for a better life for him.

He struggled to feed and an operation carried out at Bishop Auckland Hospital left him fitted with a tube in his tummy. At the hospital, paediatrician Dr Peter Jones asked Angelina and Ian if they knew about the new children’s hospice in Stockton.

After decades of providing end of life care for adults, Mary Butterwick kept to her promise of providing support for all members of the community and children touched by life limiting illnesses.

Alongside the Stockton hospice, a centre was set up to specifically care for babies, children, teenagers and young adults, as well as their siblings and parents.

The Bacon family were the first to be referred to the Butterwick Children’s Hospice and cut the ribbon at its official opening in 1998 alongside hospice founder Mary and Take That star, Gary Barlow.

As the children’s hospice now approaches its 20th anniversary, the charity is weathering the storm caused by its former chief executive. Public trust has been damaged and donations to keep the hospice going have fallen.

But for Matthew’s dad, Ian, he is determined not to let the dishonest actions of one man ruin decades of dedication.

“We’ve got to carry on,” he said. “We can’t allow one person to spoil what the Butterwick does and the legacy that Mary Butterwick left.

“It is a shame and it’s unfortunate. I was interviewed for the radio earlier this week and I was reading the newspaper at the time and I was actually very angry before I went on the radio.

“I just can’t believe what he’s done and that he won’t stand up, hold his hands up and admit that he’s done wrong.

“Hopefully time will be a good healer and once he’s been sentenced, then that will be it. He certainly hasn’t helped himself or even apologised for what he’s done.

“I’ve always been a firm believer in what goes around, comes around, so hopefully he’ll get his comeuppance and he’ll be made to pay back what he took.”

Mary and Matthew’s memory live on through the hospice, and the Bacon family will always support the charity that let their little boy relax, have fun and find peace at the end of his short life.

Ian added that he’s running the Great North Run this year and intends on roping in other members of his family to complete the half-marathon.

“It always seems to be me that runs it every year,” he laughed. “Our children are grown up and live in different places now, but they’re all spreading the word about the work of the hospice too.

“My mother passed away two weeks ago and at her funeral, there was a collection for the hospice. We will always support them and we hope others will too.”