I only met Oliver Thomas on a few occasions. Three times perhaps over a period of about five years and yet he made such a lasting impression on me and I imagine everyone else he ever encountered. His dad, Mick is a TV director who I had worked with and known for many years. I was vaguely aware that his son, Oliver was not very well. He had a disease I had never heard of and having never met Oliver, it all rather passed me by.
That disease was EB, a most cruel and vicious disease and which finally took Oliver from his loving parents, Sarah and Mick and his sister Sian. Oliver was 32, no age for an ordinary life but an extraordinary duration against the cruel odds of EB. Oliver survived much longer than his parents could have hoped for or the medics might have predicted. But his survival is bitter sweet because EB inflicts such enormous and very obvious pain and yet Mick never tired of explaining that Oliver never once complained about his lot. This is a remarkable sign of his strength and fortitude and also the love that he was enveloped in by his family.
It has been an altogether peculiar and often sad year. It began with lockdown and uncertainly and it is set to close in the same way. A mid-term reprieve not enough for many people to salvage what can be considered a good year. For Tom, his year ends strongly with the release of No Way Home and its reception from his legions of fans is a good reminder to Nikki and I of how fortunate we are. But during 2021 Tom was also able to complete another film and one that featured Oliver Thomas and his brave story. EBRP is an American charity with bold ambitions to cure EB by the end of this decade and why Tom was happy to front their online telethon which raised more than $2m for the cause. Sufferers like James Dunn, Freddie Fincham and now Oliver Thomas are young men who we have encountered through the Brothers Trust and witnessed first-hand their determination to help future children blighted with EB. Just like James and Freddie, Oliver lived his life as big as was possible and he did not die in vain. The clever people in white coats are inspired to defeat EB by people like Oliver.
For the EBRP film, Harry and I visited the Thomas home, not far from where we live. Sarah’s love and pride for Oliver was palpable and rightly so. His death is a great loss to the family even though they knew to expect it with his terminal diagnosis with a skin cancer. Oliver loved his football and he loved his life. It was an honour to have him along to our screening days with Tom and to see him at celebrity golf days that his dad had organised and how I first encountered EB.
He will be sorely missed by many but at least now and finally, his unrelenting pain is over.
God Bless Oliver Thomas.