Paddle Team up for award...
Matt has been nominated for a Pride of Britain award, along with three others in the south-west. He said: "I'm just feeling really humble. It was a complete surprise and after ten years of doing this to raise money for other people and to raise awareness about Joe's story it was a pleasant surprise".
Matt said: "It was such a massive loss when Joe died that we had to do something to fill that void. This has been amazing experience and a real credit to Joe's legacy. We have always told Joe's story to inspire people as he had battled off ten superbugs and put up such a great fight which he always did with a smile. We just wanted to celebrate the positive way he dealt with everything”.
Matt continued “when he died in our arms in HDU there wasn't a children's hospice available for people living in Cornwall so that was a really important part of our journey, to support the hospice and make sure it was built. Which it was and it is doing an amazing job to help families that are unfortunately in the same position that we were."
It isn't just about their family though and Matt has paid tribute to everyone involved in getting the Appeal to where it is today.
He said: "It's really exciting and it's a great opportunity to showcase the amazing way that people have supported us in Cornwall and particularly the people of Newquay and the surfing community”.
"It's an amazing town and there's some amazing people who live here and I think it's great for everyone to have some recognition for everything they have done to celebrate Joe's life and be part of his story - even though he's not here anymore. As a family, we're really proud of that."
The awards, hosted by The Mirror, celebrates achievements of people in the community who 'make the world a better place'. Winners are chosen after being whittled down from thousands of nominations, and are decided by a panel of judges.
This year's awards will be hosted on 31st October on ITV and be hosted at Grosvenor House in London.