Aston is a very talented sportsman who had high hopes of a professional career in sport looming, since playing football for Swansea City from the age of 5, signing his first contract at the age of 7. The talented young footballer and rugby player was due to finish his GCSEs this year.  Aston was hopeful of realising his sporting dreams of becoming a professional sportsman - and was so close to realising these aspirations of earning a scholarship in his chosen sport, having recently also acquired a call up to the Ospreys academy in rugby due to his exceptional contributions to his local and district rugby teams.

His mother, Sian Mansell will never forget the phone call that every parent dreads. It was 5.36pm on December 10 when the hospital phoned to say her 15-year-old son's illness was cancer and because there was no time to waste an ambulance was being sent to blue-light him to Noah's Ark at the Heath to start treatment immediately.

It was such a shock for Aston Bevington's family as the talented young footballer and rugby player had always been the picture of health. Little did he know that his whole world was about to be turned upside down when six weeks before Christmas he woke up with what appeared to be swollen glands in his neck. His parents, initially thinking  it was some kind of viral infection, did not worry, but when swollen lymph nodes appeared under his armpits and in his groin they made a doctor’s appointment. His mother, Sian said: "He felt fine and well in himself but I knew something wasn’t right.. The GP referred us for blood tests and told us it was likely to be viral - and potentially glandular fever. He had blood tests and we had the results approximately five days later when it was confirmed to us by another GP at his practice that Aston had glandular fever."

Over the next two weeks Aston was exhausted and the swelling in his neck grew. He started feeling sick and had night sweats and was referred to the hospital where they waited a week for an ultrasound.

"I knew when I saw the consultant's face that day something was not right. He had further bloods taken and was booked in for a biopsy the next day," says Sian. "We never got that far. Just a few hours later at 5.36 pm - I will never forget that time- the hospital rang me. They told me over the phone that my son had cancer, we had no time to waste and that an ambulance was being sent to take him to Noah’s Ark in the Heath.

"We were blue lighted there. I don’t think I could ever put into words what that felt like. I still can’t believe it some days."

His treatment has been intense and ongoing ever since - and complexities in the nature of his blood cancer now mean a bone marrow donor is actively being sought and he most certainly has a long road ahead to recovery. The long and short of it is, Astons Leukaemia has many mitigating factors making the road to cure a complex one. Nothing about his diagnosis is straightforward- his type of cancer accounts for less than 15% of all types of blood cancer. His age and gender reduce his likelihood of cure by a considerable percentage - to less than 70%. Recent discoveries of a certain protein present on his cancerous cells mean conventional methods of treatment are less likely to be successful and his parents are actively seeking targeted therapies not available in the UK in order to increase his chances of a successful cure. All of this comes at a cost. The cost to save his life. This is why his local community, football and rugby teams are all campaigning to raise funds. Every little helps in a situation like this.

Everyone who knows, loves and cares for Aston has one goal - and that is to get him recovered as quickly and successfully as possible and to get him back on that pitch - doing what he loves. What he was borned and programmed to do.

As has been said, he is a local lad with ties all over the community. Everyone is actively pulling together to fund raise for Aston and his family to help them with whatever they may need to potentially find his cure and aid his recovery and rehabilitation. They are working with the Welsh Blood Donor campaign and many media outlets to raise awareness and to increase their chances of finding his own donor match. 

Sian says, "The support is just absolutely incredible. I would go as far as to say unbelievable. The amount of messages, videos, fundraising - it’s just insane. The first people to get involved were his rugby and football teams - they’d organised events, shirts, donations and gifts within 72 hours of his diagnosis. And they haven’t stopped since!

"But the sense of community in general has absolutely restored my faith in humanity. People from all over are now sending him video well wishes, donating gifts and raising money. Rugby players; football players, fitness coaches, tik tok influencers - the general public as well are just being so kind; thoughtful and generous. Our boy has touched the hearts of so many people and as a family we feel truly humbled and blessed."

On the night the rugby player shaved their heads meant a lot to the family and they are so grateful. "The atmosphere that night was euphoric. Aston has a phenomenal group of friends - is his rugby team for instance many of them have been friends since about the age of four," says Sian. "But his circle of friends has become so big through his sport - he has just collected so many true and great friends along the way. It has been made abundantly clear to us and most definitely to Aston by everyone involved that he is NOT fighting this battle alone. He has a whole army behind him.

"We have so much to do yet to get our boy back to good health but we know we have a whole community behind us and that makes all the difference. We will forever be thankful for those who have helped us through this time."

Aston, alongside his whole family offers the most heartfelt thank you to all of those making donations or helping in anyway that they can at this time. 

The family gratefully applauds the overwhelming sense of community that has come from such an awful situation and would like to extend a personal thank you to everyone who has attended, contributed too and organised every event or donated in any way - blood, swabs, time, well wishes and money.