Red Symons has lost his ‘beautiful son’ to cancer, aged just 27.

Samuel Symons, the eldest son of radio personality Red Symons and his wife Elly, has died from an aggressive brain tumour, aged just 27.

On 3AW on Wednesday morning, the radio show on which Red Symons is a regular, Neil Mitchell read out a statement from the Symons family.

“It is with the deepest sadness Red announces the passing of his beautiful son, Samuel Symons,” it read.

“Samuel passed peacefully overnight surrounded by his family. We ask that you please respect the privacy of Red and his family at this very sad and difficult time.”

While Symons was private about his son’s experience with cancer for many years, he appeared on Australian Story in February 2010 to tell Samuel’s story.

Samuel was just four when he was first diagnosed with a brain tumour, and it was expected the surgeries to treat it would cause brain damage and paraplegia. He made a full recovery, but in Year 6, developed thyroid cancer. It was a diagnosis, however, plagued by a hospital error, that meant the tumour wasn’t treated for three months. Several surgeries failed to remove the cancer, and in Year 10, Samuel was diagnosed with another brain tumour.

He was 18 when he spoke on Australian Story.

“Even at this stage in Year 12 I still have thyroid cancer and I still have a brain tumour in my head which is a little bit off-putting,” Samuel told the ABC show.

“I used to think what it would have been like if I didn’t have cancer but what’s the point of thinking about the past when you can just think of now?”

His father said he wanted his son’s story told “properly,” and had waited until Samuel was 18 to publicly speak about his health.

In a moving piece for The Monthly in 2016, Symons described the "trauma" of watching his son receive treatment for cancer.

"There are some moments of pure anguish that leave a retinal burn and are never forgotten," he wrote. Symons recalled the experience of having to stand behind the "danger lines" in his son's hospital room for three days while Samuel ingested radioactive iodine for his thyroid cancer.

"He sat solemnly in the chair next to his bed near the window," Symons wrote, "awaiting the sub-deadly dose that would make him off-limits as the battle ensued within him."

In May this year, Samuel Symons' advocacy work for people living with cancer was recognised by Health Minister Jill Hennessy, who presented him with an Outstanding Achievement by a Young Volunteer Award.

"Samuel is an incredibly inspiring young man," she said. "Whilst dealing with his own health challenges he is also focused on the needs of other people, and particularly other young people with cancer. It's an extraordinary contribution."

Samuel Symons lived years longer than doctors expected, and juggled his studies and work with advocacy in the healthcare system.