Grieving family reflects on 'beautiful' tribute from former Liverpool player

Australia Broadcast Center

11-05-2025

Tasmanian Ken Fleming is a passionate Liverpool FC fan, but there's a piece of memorabilia in his footy collection that evokes bittersweet memories.
On the wall of his home gym in Tranmere near Hobart is a signed edition of former Liverpool footballer Adam Lallana's playing shirt, framed with a letter penned by the footballer in honour of Mr Fleming's son Jack, who died aged 21 of an incurable brain tumour.
Jack was diagnosed with glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) in 2016, after complaining of a headache and experiencing a seizure. He died 22 months later.
Lallana's letter and signed shirt were in response to an email Jack had partially written to the player, his father's idol, before his death in 2018.
Mr Fleming discovered it after his son had died and posted it to Lallana with his own letter to honour his son's wishes.
"When I got onto his computer after he died, I found this very poorly written letter to Adam Lallana just saying that my father's doing so much for me," Mr Fleming told ABC Hobart.
Jack had been studying commerce/law at the University of Tasmania when he was diagnosed with glioblastoma multiforme, the most aggressive and deadly form of brain cancer.
In his letter to Lallana, Jack asks the football player for some signed memorabilia for his father, who, he writes "has been helping me tremendously since I got diagnosed".
"I can honestly say that the only reason I have survived over 12 months is because of him."
He told Lallana the memorabilia would be a surprise for his dad, though Mr Fleming learned later that his wife and brothers knew about it.
"Jack was an extremely bright kid at uni and doing extremely well. But towards the end as the cancer took over, it scrambled his brain," Mr Fleming said.
"The letter was very poorly constructed. But clearly, I could see the set-up and what he was trying to do.
"I sent it to Adam, added my context and Adam sent back the shirt which I've since framed with the most beautiful letter saying that he would keep the letter in his locker, you know, just to remind him he had two boys, and he knew what I was going through.
"So it meant a lot."
In his return letter, Lallana tells Mr Fleming how deeply Jack's letter had affected him and promises "to keep Jack's letter in my locker at the training ground for the entire season".
"I am a father of two young boys — so my immediate thoughts are those of a fellow parent," he writes.
"His inspirational words will provide me with an ongoing reminder of his courage, but also the responsibility we have as professional footballers to give everything always, because of the love and support of people like your Jack.
"With love and compassion, You'll Never Walk Alone."
Mr Fleming said he was moved to tears by Lallana's words.
"I didn't know if I would get a response, but I wanted to honour Jack's wishes. Then Adam wrote back with this beautiful letter; it was a very cathartic moment."
In the months following his son's death, Mr Fleming reached out to other public figures including former US president Joe Biden whose son Beau had died of a glioblastoma brain tumour a few years earlier, and US senator John McCain before he likewise died in 2018 from the disease.
He also shared his son and family's experience in the book, Jack's Story: The life and death of Jack Fleming, and has advocated for new brain cancer treatments and research.
"Both Joe Biden and senator John McCain wrote back to me," Mr Fleming said.
"It's about connecting with like souls and understanding their grief and pain. It's about trying to find sanity in a world that's gone mad.
"I never thought this would happen to any of my children. Our life changed; there were no more rules after Jack died."
On June 5, 2018, Senator McCain thanked Mr Fleming for sending him a copy of Jack's Story, and in December that year Joe Biden also replied.
"As you know glioblastoma cancer has touched my life and those that I love dearly," Mr Biden wrote.
"Our sons gave us so much more than they knew, so much for us to cherish."
Senator McCain said he appreciated "the bravery it took to write this book about what it is really like inside a life with a glioblastoma multiforme".
Also known as GBM, glioblastoma multiforme is the deadliest form of brain cancer; it is fast growing and can strike at any age.
Former Australian of the Year Richard Scolyer was diagnosed with an aggressive glioblastoma in 2023 and took part in experimental immunotherapy treatment, but recently revealed his brain cancer had returned and he had only months to live.
Mr Fleming said the correspondence he had with others affected by GBM, including Adam Lallana, provide some solace during moments of intense grief, "when all hell breaks out".
"That was the outcome [of connecting with Lallana], that beautiful shirt and beautiful memories," he said.