Kelsey Parker announces football match in Tom Parker's memory, says don't want children to 'feel sadness'

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Kelsey Parker, the wife of 'The Wanted' star Tom Parker, has announced a tribute football match in his memory.

Tom Parker died at the age of 33 in March 2022 after an 18-month battle with stage four glioblastoma brain cancer.

March is a difficult month for Kelsey Parker and her family

Speaking ahead of the two-year anniversary of his death, Kelsey said, "March is such a difficult month for us as a family."

Kelsey added, "I can’t actually believe that in just a couple of weeks it will be two years since we lost Tom."

She launched a charity football match in Tom’s honor last year which took place on Father’s Day and is delighted to announce that a second one will be held on this year’s Father’s Day on June 16.

Kelsey continued, "One thing I promised myself and Tom was to continue his legacy."

She added, "Brain tumours kill more children and adults under 40 than any other cancer. That is more than leukaemia, prostate and breast cancer, yet the government only gives brain tumour research one per cent of its funding."

Kelsey Parker says Tom Parker handed her a baton to raise awarness and funding for cancer 

Kelsey Parker said more was needed with regard to raising awarness and finding to the cancer. 

"More needs to be done and I feel like when Tom passed he handed the baton over to me to continue raising awareness and funding," Kelsey said.

She added, "We can’t keep losing our children, husbands, wives, parents, brothers and sisters to this cancer."

Kelsey has been posting about her grief on Instagram. Last year, she posted a photo of her and Tom and captioned it, "One year without you, forever my soul mate"

Kelsey Parker's painful step of taking off the wedding ring 

In January 2024, Kelsey revealed that she took the painful step of taking off her wedding ring after almost two years of Tom Parker's tragic death. 

"I felt this year was the right time to take the wedding ring off. I am married to Tom but not in this lifetime," she said in an interview on ITV.

"He’s not here any more… I was looking down at it remembering the happy times but also that he’s not here with me," she continued. 

She said, "Some people did take it off straight away and I was like, ‘I couldn’t have done it.’ When he was in the hospice, he placed his wedding ring on my finger."

"For me I felt like, ‘I’ve got to keep it on, but now is the time. It just feels right for me, I don’t know what it is. With me, I just go with what’s right for me," Kelsey continued. 

Kelsey Parker's decison to focus on her children and put herself first 

Reflecting on her amazing relationship with Tom, she said, “I am 33, I had such an amazing relationship with Tom. I was 19 when we met. We had such an amazing bond. But I am 33 and I have two children," she said.   

"So then it became about my children. That’s why I feel this year I’ve got to put myself first. It needs to be about me. I’ve given so much to the people I love, but I need to start loving myself a little bit more," she added.

Tom and Kelsey reportedly first crossed paths in a nightclub in 2009 where they both experienced love at first sight.

At the time, they were approximately 20 and 19 years old respectively. Despite Tom's subsequent touring with the boy band 'The Wanted', their bond remained strong. In 2016, Tom proposed, leading to their marriage two years later in 2018.