A family has shared how proud they are of their cheerful, cheeky, drag race-loving son, who was determined that even an extremely rare cancer would not stop him from doing what he loved.
On Friday, members of the Ipswich motor racing and biking community will take to the roads to accompany Jack Gooding on his final journey.
Jack, a drag racing champion who had dreams of working with cars, passed away on August 18, aged 24.
When this newspaper met Jack in April, he was still hoping to attend drag racing events in his prized Volkswagen Scirocco, which he regularly raced at the Santa Pod Raceway in Wellingborough.
This was despite being in the midst of treatment for a gastrointestinal neuroectodermal tumour. This is an incredibly rare cancer, with Jack being one of only 112 people to be diagnosed with the disease worldwide, although that number could be as low as 96.
Speaking of the Wellingborough raceway, Jack said: “It’s a second home to me. I am completely relaxed, I have a lot of friends there and they look after me well there.”
Ever since Jack was a little boy, said his mother, Rebecca Gooding, he has been fascinated with cars.
“He absolutely loved cars,” said Rebecca. “His dad (Gary) used to go down to the Santa Pod Raceway and race his car down the strip, so Jack was going there from an early age. That’s where his passion grew.
“As Jack got older, he started racing in the junior drag star group and then progressed to racing his Scirocco there as well.”
Jack was diagnosed with rhabdomyosarcoma, a rare type of cancer that more often affects children and teenagers when he was five years old.
At the time, said Rebecca, Jack was given a 15% chance of beating the cancer. However, after two years of chemotherapy at Addenbrookes and Ipswich Hospital, he was in remission at age seven.
Jack also became a big brother around this time, with younger brothers Jamie and Archie completing the family of five.
Jack attended Whitehouse Community Primary School, and then Westbourne High.
At school, Jack was a cheerful, happy-go-lucky boy, and surrounded himself with a close group of friends.
Jack remained very loyal to his friends, said Rebecca. He was also very kind to his younger brothers. Having passed his driving test first time, Jack was always happy to give the boys lifts.
Rebecca was impressed with Jack’s confidence, for he was soon driving all around the country, visiting friends who lived near London and Birmingham.
“I asked him, don’t you get bored, being on your own?” Rebecca remembered. “He said, ‘No, I turn my music on, and I love it.’ He loved driving.”
In 2018,
see the car finished in all its glory.
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