‘I never thought he would die – I always had hope’: Jeremy Hunt bravely opens up on his heartbreak after death of 53-year-old brother Charlie from ultra-rare cancer

Jeremy Hunt has spoken of his heartbreak over losing his brother to cancer, revealing: ‘I never thought he would die’.

Charlie Hunt died last month at the age of 53, three years after he was diagnosed with spindle cell sarcoma, an extremely rare form of cancer that affects fewer than one in a million people.

Despite his terminal diagnosis, the chancellor said he always had “hope” that his brother would somehow pull through.

Speaking at a fundraising event for Sarcoma UK, he paid tribute to families who used personal tragedies to push for breakthroughs, and vowed to do the same for Charlie.

‘Despite everything, I never expected my brother to die. “I always had hope,” he said.

Speaking at a fundraising event for Sarcoma UK, Jeremy Hunt paid tribute to families who used personal tragedies to push for breakthroughs, and vowed to do the same for Charlie. ‘Despite everything, I never expected my brother to die. “I always had hope,” he said

Around 5,300 people in Britain are diagnosed with sarcoma, an aggressive form of cancer of the soft tissue or bone, every year. But survival rates are low, with more than 100 different subtypes, making effective diagnosis and treatment even more difficult. The event, hosted at 11 Downing Street, was organized by Charlie from his hospital bed in Royal Marden, London. Pictured is Jeremy Hunt with Richard Davidson (right), CEO of Sarcoma UK

‘When I was Health Minister I met many campaigners who had lost loved ones and who were angry and sad about the tragic loss of someone before their time, and it always impressed me when people said: ‘Instead of getting angry , I’m really going to do something. I’m going to try to do something to change the NHS so this doesn’t happen again.’

He added: ‘It is very difficult to relive the grief of losing someone over and over again, to try to prevent the same thing from happening to other families. And it’s a wonderful thing.

“So I want to thank you because I think in sarcoma it’s a variant of cancer that we don’t actually know enough about.”

Around 5,300 people in Britain are diagnosed with sarcoma, an aggressive form of cancer of the soft tissue or bone, every year.

But survival rates are low, with more than 100 different subtypes, making effective diagnosis and treatment even more difficult.

The event, hosted at 11 Downing Street, was organized by Charlie from his hospital bed in Royal Marden, London.

The successful businessman and father of three was desperate to raise awareness of the charity’s work. He had raised more than £140,000 through his own efforts, including running the marathon with his brother last October while undergoing treatment.

On Monday, Mr Hunt reiterated the need for more research and called for investment to detect rare cancers such as sarcoma earlier. He added: ‘One of the things I have discovered in my current role is that this is a brilliant country when it comes to cancer research. It’s right there, the United States is one of the top two places in the world. Jeremy Hunt is pictured attending the Conservative Party conference in Manchester today

In an interview with The Mail in July, the Chancellor spoke of how cancer has affected his family, claiming the lives of both his parents and the need to ‘lift the curse of humanity’. He himself needed early treatment to prevent skin cancer, but was ‘blessed’ that it was caught early and successfully treated by the NHS.

On Monday he reiterated the need for more research and called for investments to detect rare cancers such as sarcoma earlier.

He added: ‘One of the things I have discovered in my current role is that this is a brilliant country when it comes to cancer research. It’s right there, the United States is one of the top two places in the world.

‘And if we can raise more money to support sarcoma research, we can really save a lot of lives.’

Richard Davidson, CEO of Sarcoma UK, said the charity has committed to raising £300,000 for research into ultra-rare sarcomas.

He said: “Charlie was an incredibly supportive and humble man who, before being diagnosed with sarcoma in 2020, had never heard of the cancer.

‘He dealt with his diagnosis in a positive and constructive way and raised more than £140,000 to ensure others benefited from research he knew would come too late for him.

“We want to keep families together longer and prevent other families from experiencing what Charlie’s family did.”