TWO children who died have had new blood grouping machines named after them.

Jack Bray from Lancing died in 2014 aged just 12 after being diagnosed with a cancerous brain tumour at the age of ten.

He was in hospital with Harvey Buster Baldwin from Sompting, who lost his battle with cancer, aged eight, in the same year.

Worthing Hospital’s first blood grouping analyser was dedicated to Harvey in December 2014.

Now Jack’s family has named a new machine at the hospital in memory of him.

The two machines Jack and Harvey sit side by side in the pathology laboratories.

Jack’s mum Andrina Bray said: “Jack and Harvey were really good friends while they were in hospital and it is a lovely touch to have the two machines named after them side-by-side.”

Dad Dan Bray said: “It is nice of the hospital to honour Jack and keep him close to his friend.

“Jack brought a lot of joy to everyone he met.”

Jack and Harvey were among the first children to receive one of the tours of hospital laboratories which now take place in more than 80 NHS hospitals.

Much like Harvey, Jack wanted to know what happened to the many blood samples doctors took once they shot down a vacuum tube which connects the children’s ward to the pathology laboratories.

Play assistant Hayley Edwards reached out to pathology colleagues and helped organise a tour of the lab where Jack was given a first-hand look at how blood samples are processed.

Mum Andrina said: “The tour was amazing and he loved it.

“Jack was so interested in what was going on and what stood out for us, and for him, was that the platelets on show in the lab were actually his own.

“He spent forever just looking at them.

“He then went back to the ward and he drew the lab team a big poster of the tubes of blood and other things that he had seen and we posted it down their tube system.”

Chief biomedical scientist Malcolm Robinson from Worthing Hospital founded the charity Harvey’s Gang in memory of Harvey.

He has now retired from the NHS to focus full-time on the work of the charity.

Malcolm said: “When I launched Harvey’s Gang I promised Jack’s parents one day I would reunite the two friends, in memory, Jack and Harvey. In my last week before retirement, it has filled me with joy I could live up to that promise.”