AN inspirational Belbroughton schoolboy has been recognised by a national charity for sharing his stem cell transplant story and encouraging people to become donors and help save lives.

Finley Hill, who has undergone two transplants since being diagnosed with rare immune disorder familial HLH, was named the John Petchey Young Hero of the Year winner at this year’s Anthony Nolan Supporter Awards, held at the Tower of London last night (Wednesday June 14).

The award recognises young supporters aged 16 or under who have made a difference to the lives of other people with blood cancer – either by personally supporting Anthony Nolan or inspiring others to support the charity.

Finn, aged 11, a pupil at Hagley Primary School, was nominated for the accolade for urging young people, aged 16 to 30, to help save others in his position by signing up to the stem cell donor register online at anthonynolan.org via a series of video reports on his Facebook page.

Henny Braund MBE, chief executive at Anthony Nolan, has described Finn as “an inspiration” and praised the way he has shared his story “with so much humour and a smile on his face in order to encourage more people to sign up to the register”.

She said of his win: "Finn is a hugely deserving winner of this award; his incredible support and passion for our work is a fantastic example of our charity, which is built on making lifesaving connections.

"It was lovely to meet Finn and I continue to find myself inspired and humbled by the dedication and strength of supporters like him.

“By raising vital funds and much needed awareness, we are curing blood cancer together. We can give families hope and give more people a future”.

A full list of winners can be seen on the charity’s Twitter feed and more information about becoming a stem cell donor is available on the charity’s website anthonynolan.org

Following his national award win, Finn and his parents Jo and Paul took to the sofa on This Morning on ITV to give an update on the youngster’s journey back to health at the milestone six-month point on from his second stem cell transplant which was carried out at Birmingham Children’s Hospital in December 2022.

He told viewers he has been feeling “much better” and has been enjoying being back at school now but that it had not been a nice experience to go through and he added: “I just hope it doesn’t ever happen again and I hope it doesn't happen to anyone else either.”

Hosts Holly Willoughby and Dermot O’Leary were full of praise for plucky Finn, a budding young TV presenter, and gave him the honour of reading one of their links on the show after hearing about his video reports and interest in TV and theatre.

They also surprised him with tickets to see the stage show version of Back to the Future to congratulate him on his award success and incredible journey back to health.