We share the sad news that Dr Audrey Evans passed away peacefully, aged 97, on 29 September 2022.

Dr Evans studied at Badminton between 1935 -1940 before pursuing her love of medicine at the Royal College of Surgeons in Edinburgh. She then moved to the US and became one of the very few female oncologists of the time, spending the majority of her career in Philadelphia. Dr Evans established herself as a world-renowned paediatric oncologist and researcher of neuroblastoma; she is credited with reducing death rates in children with neuroblastoma by 50% thanks to her pioneering research and techniques, including the development of the Evans staging system.

In the 1960s, she was recruited by Dr Everett Koop to open an oncology service at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. Dr Evans and her team began to see patients from a much larger geographical area, not just Philadelphia, and it was this experience that sparked a vision to give families a place to live whilst their children were undergoing treatment; to ease the financial and emotional burden caused by the constant travel to and from the hospital and give families a much needed safe haven in close proximity to their child. 

Alongside a player for the Philadelphia Eagles, Dr Evans co-founded the Ronald McDonald House charity. To date, this charity has accommodation in over 380 locations in 45 countries, including the UK, and has provided a safe and welcoming place to stay for 8 million families whose children have needed hospital treatment.

Once Dr Evans retired, aged 84, she realised how much she missed working with children and felt she still had more to give. In 2011, Dr Evans co-founded the St James School, a facility which provides an extra school year to under resourced children and aims to break the cycle of poverty.

Dr Evans’ time at Badminton coincided with her becoming very ill with tuberculosis and, as a result, she missed a large amount of school; this only fuelled her interest in medicine and made her more determined to realise her dream of a career in medicine. 

We are truly honoured that Badminton played a small part in Dr Audrey Evans’ unparalleled achievements and her legacy will leave a lasting impression on so many around the world. She touched countless lives and was a reassuring and constant presence for so many families in their time of greatest need.  An advocate for the concept of total care, Dr Evans understood that ‘a sick child is a sick family’ and trailblazed the future of paediatric care, not only for her young patients, but their families too. From bringing animals to the hospital for her patients to cuddle, to having unimaginably difficult conversations with children about their future, Dr Evans gently encompassed kindness, compassion and warmth which radiated out to her patients, colleagues and beyond. 

The impact Dr Evans had on paediatric oncology is immeasurable and we are simply in awe of her extraordinary accomplishments.

Dr Evans made it her life’s mission to make a difference to those in need and, in her own words, would like to be remembered as ‘someone who cared.’ 

Dr Audrey Evans, 6th March 1925 -  29th September 2022