Schoolboy with cancer who delivered hampers during lockdown recognised on New Year Honours List

A cancer survivor who spent the Covid lockdowns delivering hampers to vulnerable people in his community has been given the British Empire Medal in the New Year Honours List. 

Sixteen-year-old Sahil Usman, from Blackburn, was diagnosed with Leukaemia at the age of thirteen and, despite still battling the disease at the time of the 2020 lockdowns, decided to look out for the vulnerable people in his community.

After noticing the empty supermarket shelves in his area, Sahil put together 300 hampers containing daily essential items and hand delivered them to elderly people across Blackburn. 

Shanaz Usman

And his generosity didn’t stop there; this Christmas, Sahil spent his own money to make up 250 Christmas gifts bags, each of which consisted of winter items such as gloves and hats. Each gift bag was worth around £35, bringing his total cost to £2,000.

He also took an array of gifts to the children’s ward at the Royal Blackburn Hospital and to the Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital, where he himself had spent eight months on the cancer ward. 

Sahil said he was inspired to give out the hampers and gifts because he ‘knew what it was like to be classed as vulnerable, but knew he had his mum to help him, while many people had no-one’. 

Shanaz Usman

And now, Sahil’s kindness has been formally recognised; after winning the prestigious High Sheriff’s Young Citizen Award last year, the teenager has now been awarded the British Empire Medal in the New Year’s Honour List.

Sahil and his family told ITV News that when they first got the letter to confirm he was being given the BEM, they were ‘shocked’ and ‘didn’t quite believe it’, though the teenager’s biggest issue is now ‘deciding what to wear!’

The schoolboy will receive the British Empire Medal at a prestigious Royal garden party though, as a result of the pandemic, an exact date is yet to be confirmed.