Oscar Saxelby-Lee: £500,000 raised for treatment

The family of a five-year-old boy whose leukaemia has returned said they had reached a £500,000 fundraising target for treatment in Singapore.

Oscar Saxelby-Lee, from Worcester, had a stem cell transplant in May, but last month tests revealed cancer was present.

His family said they were "thrilled" and "gobsmacked" at the support.

They had faced a "life or death" battle to raise the money within six weeks, his mother said previously.

A Facebook post accompanied by a video of Oscar and his family thanking supporters, said: "We are absolutely gobsmacked with the amount of humbling support we have received since the word go.

"Over the last three weeks, we have watched the people of Worcestershire and beyond work together to raise this seemingly impossible amount of money."

It added that Oscar has had further treatment and tests to keep his leukaemia at bay and the results will determine the next step.

"When the best treatment plan for Oscar is confirmed by his medical team, having this funding will allow us to move very quickly," the post said.

Oscar would be part of a trial of CAR-T therapy, which is not available to him on the NHS. It is the same treatment that Zac Oliver, from Shropshire, underwent for his leukaemia.

The therapy is specifically developed for individual patients and involves reprogramming their immune system cells, which are then used to target their cancer.

Oscar has been treated at Birmingham Children's Hospital for acute lymphoblastic leukaemia since last December.

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