FAMILY and friends of five-year-old Luke Brewer from Chafford Hundred are rallying round to ensure he gets life-changing medical care in America reports The Thurrock Enquirer.
Luke was diagnosed in July with Rhabdomyosarcoma – an extremely rare form of cancer affecting his face, throat and nasal passages, and needs seven weeks of specialist treatment in Oklahoma.
Family friend Gareth Ward, from Broomfield set up a GoFundMe fundraising page, which has already raised £1,905 but with the support of the local community he hopes they can reach their target of £3,000 to help towards the cost of Luke’s proton beam treatment.
Luke’s parents, Amy and Keith Brewer, had only been married a few weeks when they noticed something wasn’t right with their son. In the weeks that followed Luke’s health deteriorated and he was diagnosed with Rhabdomyosarcoma – a rare malignant tumour involving striated muscle tissue.
Due to the rarity of Luke’s condition, there is very little treatment available in Britain and so the family have recently flown to Oklahoma in America where Luke will undergo seven weeks of specialist medical treatment.
To help with the fundraising efforts Gareth, a police officer, recently ran the “9BAR 9×92”, an 81km endurance run held in Guilford consisting of 9x9km laps or two cross country marathons! He completed the ultra-marathon in 12 hours 59 minutes.
Luke Brewer3Gareth said: “I am attempting to raise as much money as I can to help cover the costs for Luke’s treatment costs. I have even designed a charity wrist band called the ‘I’ve Helped Luke’ Superhero wrist band! So please, if you can spare any money at all, even if it’s only a small amount, to help make this young man’s dreams come true, and beat this terrible illness, I would be forever grateful if you could support us through our GoFundMe website.”
Kelsea Little, spokesperson for GoFundMe.com said: “Our thoughts are with Luke and his family during this difficult time. It is incredibly touching to see how many people have come together to offer support him on Gareth’s GoFundMe campaign. He really is a little hero and we wish the family all the best moving forward.”
To make a donation, visit www.gofundme.com/ Lukethe superhero.
