News

Bearers of the Olympic flame

Published 24 April 2012

A student nurse and a library assistant from the University of Brighton have been chosen to be two of the 8,000 torch bearers in the 2012 Olympics.

Olympic torch bearers Ben Feist (left) and Steve Brooks

Ben Feist in Lewes 17 July

Ben Feist, who is studying for a nursing degree in Eastbourne, was surprised by the news. Unbeknown to him, he was nominated by his mother and shortlisted by the London 2012 Organising Committee last year and will carry the Olympic torch through Lewes on 17 July.

The nomination mentioned his work as a volunteer first aider for St John Ambulance and South East Coast Ambulance Service. He started working for them in October 2010 and racked up 307.5 hours on duty in his first year.

Ben has also raised around £20,000 for Shooting Star CHASE, a hospice for children and teenagers that he has been fundraising for since he was nine years old and his eight-year-old cousin, Matthew, died from a brain tumour. To help raise funds, Ben set up two youth fundraising groups in his school and college. Most recently he organised a 110km walk from Eastbourne to Staines over three days last August. Over the same weekend he organised a street collection in Eastbourne and Staines and raised nearly £2,000.

Ben's nomination also mentioned his other voluntary work, including his stints on a hospital ward at St Peter's Hospital in Surrey while he was doing his A Levels. In addition to all his voluntary work and his studies, Ben also jointly runs the University of Brighton Kayak Club.

He is a big fan of the Olympics and Paralympics and says of his selection as a torch bearer: "It's quite an honour, that's for sure. It's terribly exciting to think that out of so many people I was selected as one of 8,000 torchbearers!"

Steve Brooks in Lancing 16 July

Also bearing the torch will be Steve Brooks, a Resource Assistant in Falmer Library, has been selected to carry the Olympic torch on 16 July through Lancing.

Steve was nominated by his wife. She said he is "a truly inspirational man". When she met him he was on kidney dialysis and could not work full time, but was running pub quizzes and doing stand-up comedy routines between dialysis treatments. A few months after the couple married, Steve had a successful kidney transplant, undertook a 'back to work' course via the JobCentre and found a new career in library work. When his wife was pregnant with their son, Steve was diagnosed with a rare form of melanoma in his eye. He has since lost his eye to a second tumour but is now cancer-free.

In her nomination, his wife said: "Steve genuinely lives life to the full, not letting his many physical and mental health issues get him down for long. He is on a cocktail of drugs to maintain adequate physical health, yet still finds time to cook amazing meals for his family and get down on the floor to play at cars and trucks with his two-year-old son. He truly embraces life and would embrace the opportunity to carry the Olympic torch with gusto, inspiring many people not to waste the precious time they have in this world with their loved ones."