We are delighted to announce our amazing patrons that are supporting the charity. We are so grateful to receive such incredible support from our wonderful patrons who help us raise our profile and give their time freely to support us. Thank you so much to each of you.
Owain Tudur Jones
Owain Tudur Jones is a former Welsh International footballer, who is now enjoying a new career path as a TV presenter on S4C’s flagship show ‘Heno’ as well as being a football pundit on ‘Sgorio’ and Radio Cymru. Since meeting Owain, he has been a huge supporter of Joseph’s Smile and our family. We are thrilled to have Owain’s continued support as one of our amazing patrons!
Owain says “I am so proud to be a patron of Joseph’s Smile and have a special relationship with the family after first meeting them while filming ‘Dathlu Dewrder’ a show which recognised Joseph’s unbelievable bravery.”
Shane Williams MBE
Shane Williams MBE is a Welsh rugby legend, well known for his long and successful career with the Ospreys, the Wales National team and The British Lions. Shane and his family live down the road from Joseph’s family and have known each other for a long time. Shane, Gail and their whole family were hugely supportive of Joseph’s fundraising campaign and now Joseph’s legacy charity. We are eternally grateful for Shane’s support and are thrilled to have him on board as one of our incredible patrons!
Shane says “It is an honour to be part of such a wonderful campaign. Thank you for allowing me to be a part in Joseph’s Legacy”.
Margaret Studt
Margaret Studt is a Cardiff based business woman and restaurateur who owns multiple successful businesses, which includes a hotel and restaurants such as Demiros in Cardiff Bay and Casa de Margarita in Penarth.
Margaret grew up in Brynamman and visited the village during Joseph’s campaign for treatment abroad. When she saw his photo in the local pharmacy, she was compelled to help and vowed to support the family in any way that she could to get Joseph to America and subsequently set up the Amman Valley Christmas Experience. When we lost Joseph, Margaret offered to keep running the Amman Valley Christmas Experience in his name and gives the charity a huge platform to raise funds and critical awareness at the event. Margaret was a huge support in the set up of the charity and also donated the mascot, Patch the Superdog to Joseph’s Smile. We are so beyond grateful for her support and would not have achieved what we have to date without it. We are thrilled that Margaret has accepted our invitation to become one of our charity patrons.
Steven Meo
Steven Meo was raised in the village of Coelbren, at the top of the Swansea Valley. Before departing for Drama school Steven worked as a lifeguard and swimming instructor at Ystradgynlais Leisure Centre alongside Joseph’s Grandfather Phil and both our family and Steve’s have long been friends! After leaving the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama in Cardiff, Steven has been lucky enough to enjoy success both on Stage and Screen. He is known for playing “Owain Hughes” on Gavin and Stacey, “Rufus Donahue” on Coronation Street and “Hoffman” in High Hopes for BBC Wales. His stage credits include lead rolls on Broadway and London’s West-End. Throughout Joseph’s campaign, Steven provided on-going support, personally and via campaign awareness, which we are so grateful for. We are absolutely delighted that Steve is continuing to support us as one of our Patrons for Joseph’s Smile.
Steven Says “I’m extremely honoured to be a patron of “Joseph’s Smile”. I’ve been lucky enough to know Joseph’s family for most of my life, and look forward to helping them in any way I can. What better way to honour Joseph’s memory than helping to ease the pain and suffering of others.”
Sian Reese-Williams
Sian Reese-Williams is a Welsh actress, best known for playing detective Cadi John in three series of Hidden and for her roles in Emmerdale, Hinterland and Line of Duty. Most recently, Sian plays a lead role in the incredible Welsh language movie ‘Y Swn’.
Sian is our cousin and we are grateful for Sian and her whole family who have been an on-going support to us over the past few years. We are so very happy to have her join us in supporting Joseph’s legacy charity by becoming one of our patrons.
Sian says “I am so proud to be a patron of Joseph’s Smile. Joseph’s story is very close to mine and my family’s heart and I’m so happy to support the amazing work being done for other families and children in his name. So many children have been helped in such a short space of time and this is just the start.”
Craig Russell
Craig Russell is an actor, writer and producer from Lower Cwmtwrch with a host of tv and film credits to his name. These include Eastenders, Belonging, High Hopes, Hollyoaks, Doctors, A Fish Out of Water, Anita, Dream Team, The Last Kingdom, Is Harry on the Boat, Riches, Pitching In, Canaries, The Hatton Garden Job, Screwed and Protein. He has appeared in over 100 commercials and along with Caryl Parry Jones is the author of the Tomos Llygoden y Theatr books for children. Being born and raised locally, Craig and his family have been a friend to ours for many years and Craig became a great support to us during Joseph’s campaign. We are beyond thrilled that Craig is continuing to support us as one of our Joseph’s Smile Patrons.
Craig says “I am an incredibly proud patron of Joseph’s Smile and excited to be working with them to help raise awareness of such an important charity”.
Iestyn Hopkins
Iestyn Hopkins is an up and coming rugby star, currently playing for the Ospreys and has 5 caps for the Wales under 20’s squad.
Iestyn is Joseph’s cousin and is an incredible support to us, now and during Joseph’s fundraising campaign.
We are beyond excited to have Iestyn as part of the Joseph’s Smile team as one of our patrons!
Iestyn says “I am delighted to be a patron for Joseph’s Smile. It is an emotional honour for me as he was one of the family.”
Ian Gwyn Hughes
Ian Gwyn-Hughes is Head of Public Affairs at Football Association of Wales and previously a BBC Football Correspondent and Football Editor. He presented Wales on Saturday and was a commentator for BBC Wales, including League of Wales, Welsh Premier Cup and internationals.
Ian became aware of Joseph during his campaign and invited him to the Wales training camp. Unfortunately, Joseph became too unwell to attend but Ian kept in touch with the family and after our devastating loss, invited Liam, Joseph’s brother, to a training camp and to attend some Wales games in Cardiff. This incredible gesture really lifted Liam’s spirits during an especially traumatic time and Ian quickly developed a special relationship with our family.
We are so grateful and happy to have Ian join us as a patron of Joseph’s Smile.
Ian says “When we heard about Joseph we so wanted to give him the opportunity to meet the Welsh team. The least we could do was support the family following their devastating loss. I’m delighted to be involved in this small way.”
Korey Smith
Korey Smith is an English professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for EFL League One club Derby County. Before his move to Derby, Korey played for Swansea City FC and developed a special relationship with Joseph and our family. Joseph met Korey a number of times and absolutely adored him. We are delighted that Korey accepted our invitation to become one of our patrons and know that Joseph would be too!
Korey says “I feel so honoured to be a patron of the charity and support wherever I can. I was so blessed to have met and spent some time with Joseph, his smile is something that will live with me forever! And through this hopefully we can help put smiles on some other children’s faces.”
Duetswith-t
Tony aka Duetswith_t is a Tik Tok sensation with over half a million followers. During Joseph’s campaign, Tony provided a huge amount of support to help raise awareness and funds, which included the inaugural Hero Up For Joseph day, which resulted in the hashtag achieving almost 15million online views. Tony has also organised a fundraising calendar with Tik Tok stars which raised thousands for Joseph’s campaign and most recently led a team of incredible people on a virtual walking challenge for Joseph’s Smile in honour of our Joseph.
We are absolutely thrilled that Tony has agreed to become one of our charity patrons.
Tony says “I’m so thrilled and honoured to be part of this incredible charity, to be able to help other children battling this horrible disease and other life limiting illnesses, to help aid the legacy of Joseph, who throughout his treatment smiled all the way through and gave strength to his family when they needed it.”
Rebecca Edwards-Symmons
Rebecca Edwards-Symmons is the CEO of Commonwealth Games Wales and has an extensive background in the commercial, digital and marketing industries.
Rebecca supported Joseph throughout his illness and developed a very special relationship with his family members from the moment they met. We are thrilled that Rebecca has agreed to become a patron of Joseph’s Smile and we remember the day that we met to discuss our initial ideas on how we could make a difference to other families in our creation of Joseph’s Smile.
Rebecca says “to see what Katy, Emma and the wider family had to endure during Joseph’s final few months was devastating to watch. As a mother I just couldn’t imagine having to think about fundraising, treatment options and caring and protecting my child. Joseph’s Smile will help support other families so they are able to focus on their children and not have to worry about fundraising to enable further treatments. I will be doing all I can to support Katy, Emma and the charity to help as many families as possible”
Steve Balsamo
Steve Balsamo is a Welsh singer and songwriter, best known for playing the lead role in the London production of Jesus Christ Superstar during the mid-1990s and for being the lead singer in Welsh band The Story’s. He performs as a member of several bands, is also a successful songwriter and most recently established The Grand Ambition at Swansea Grand Theatre.
Steve was a huge support to us, Joseph’s family, during his campaign and we are so grateful for all that he did for him and us. We are beyond thrilled that Steve has accepted our offer to become a patron of the charity and look forward to working with him.
Steve says “It’s an honour to be a part of this beautiful and important charity”.
Glynog Davies
Brynaman born and bred, Glynog returned to the village immediately after graduading at Cardiff University and worked for 3 years as a presenter and producer at Swansea Sound.
He then went on to spend 12 years at HTV Wales, as it was then and was their West Wales Representative preparing report for News and Current Affairs.
Glynog is a founder director of Tinopolis, setting up Welsh language programmes Heno and Later Prynhawn Da.
Glynog is also a Plaid Cymru County Councillor for Carmarthenshire and Cabinet Board Member for Education and Welsh Language.
As our local county councillor and friend of the family, Glynog was and continues to be a tremendous support. He has been heavily involved in various fundraising efforts for Joseph’s campaign and now for his legacy charity.
We are so happy to have Glynog join us to continue those efforts as one of our charity patrons.
Glynog says “‘We were all saddened with Joseph’s death in December 2021. Continuing with the charity to help others in a similar situation is a wonderful way to remember one whom we all admired. His smile will live on forever”.
“We cannot express how thrilled and deeply touched we are that each of these wonderful and dedicated people have joined us to build upon Joseph’s legacy as patrons of his charity. We built special relationships with each of them during Joseph’s campaign and following his loss, so felt passionately about asking each of them to join us and help build this very special charity. They each have a personal connection to our son in many ways, so it means more than we can express to have them all continue to support us. We are a new and small charity, completely led by volunteers, but we have so much determination and passion to one day soon be able to support all children in the UK fundraising for treatment not available on the NHS. We know that with the army of incredible Joseph’s Smile followers, volunteers and now our wonderful patrons behind us, we will do it!"
