The Voice of Spalding and South Holland
When four-year-old Lucas Devaney was diagnosed with blood cancer, his elder brother’s first thought was to find a way to support him.
Ethan (6) picked up his guitar and put some coins into a cup.
Mum Joanne asked him what he was doing.
“I’m raising money for Lucas,” came the reply.
Six months after that touching moment, the fundraising campaign which Ethan kickstarted has just finished with £22,816 being split between Children With Cancer UK and Addenbrooke’s Charitable Trust (ward C2).
Proud Joanne said: “Ethan has been a fantastic support for Lucas and he’s always wanted to know how the fundraising was going.”
It was a tough time for Joanne and husband Gareth, of Gosberton Risegate, seeing Lucas undergo intensive treatment over the summer, but on Tuesday the youngster was able to move to daily maintenance care, which will continue until 2018.
The diagnosis in April was a bolt from the blue. After a short period of persistent illness, including an ear and throat infection, Lucas was taken to hospital late one night with a high temperature of 39.8 degrees.
The feeling was that he would need to have his tonsils out within six months. However, the next morning a blood test result revealed that Lucas had acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL).
“It was a shock and I was quite frightened,” said Joanne, who works at Thomas Cook in Spalding. “I didn’t suspect anything really serious. I thought perhaps he was anaemic but he had little red spots on his skin and bruises on his legs.
“ALL can spread really quickly. What I’d say to other parents is don’t give up. Don’t just listen to your doctor – if you think your child is not well, demand a blood test.”
Lucas joined Ethan at Gosberton Academy last month and is loving school life.
The six months of fundraising have been a huge community effort and success.
What started out as Ethan’s few coins in a cup spread to a collection via a Facebook page. A target of £5,000 was quickly surpassed and it topped £10,000 within eight weeks.
Among the events were Joanne running the Race For Life and Gareth completing the notoriously difficult Tough Mudder obstacle race.
And last month more than £3,679 was raised through sponsored walks in Gosberton.
Joanne said: “Thank you to everybody who has supported us.”
With Lucas, Ethan and mum Joanne Devaney are staff at Chosen charity shop in Holbeach, which donated £2,000 to the cause. Photo supplied.
