Online fundraiser for brave 10-year-old Northampton boy with rare cancer raises £260,000 - here's how he's doing

An online fundraising page for a 10-year-old Northampton boy with a rare form of cancer has raised more than a quarter of a million pounds.

In August last year, Weston Favell Primary schoolboy Jesse Mansfield was diagnosed at Northampton General Hospital with high risk Acute Myeloid Leukaemia (AML), which affects around 100 children a year.

Jesse has been battling ever since to fight off the cancer, undergoing harsh rounds of chemotherapy and long stays in hospital.

Here’s how Jesse is currently doing…

Jesse's dad Dave said: "He's been through it, he's been up and down. This round has been quite tough on him.

"He had his last treatment last week from this round of chemotherapy and then it's a break. He has a biopsy this Friday (February 17) which will tell us where we stand in terms of how much of the leukaemia is left in the bone marrow and to understand if he needs to go for bone marrow transplant, which would be at the start of March, or whether he will need another round of chemotherapy before that.”

Asked how he is feeling, Dave said: "I'm pretty anxious about the whole thing. Knowing what is on the other side of the transplant in terms of what he and his body are going to have to go through, it's going to be tough. Very apprehensive, very anxious about the whole thing.”

Online fundraiser exceeds £250,000 target

The online fundraiser was started by Jesse’s parents, Dave and Zoe, in case a bone marrow transplant is not possible and they need to fly out to the USA or the Far East to receive expensive chemotherapy which is not available on the NHS.

So far, at the time of writing (February 13), the fundraiser has raised an incredible £262,789 from 4,293 supporters – the initial target was £250,000.

Dave said: "It's amazing to kind of reach those levels. That'll sit in the background now for a rainy day should we ever need it. The hope is we won't.

"Thank you to everybody who has supported us all the way through by supporting, donating and sharing."

Days out

Jesse has recently been a mascot at the Cobblers' game against Walsall on Saturday, February 4, where he got to meet town boss Jon Brady and player Sam Hoskins.

Dave said: "He wasn't feeling the best but he had a really good time. It was a really good day.

"I'd like to give a personal thank you to Jon Brady for looking after Jesse and donating £100 to the fund."

Jon Brady left a message on Jesse's fundraiser which reads: "Hi Jesse, It was great to meet you on Saturday and thank you for being one of our mascot. Sending you & your family all our love, strength & support from our team, staff & from my family."

While Jesse has been in hospital, make a wish charity ‘Molly Ollys Wishes’ asked the young Tottenham Hotspur fan what he would like to do, who said he wanted to do a trolley dash in Smyth's with £500.

Dave said: "We got the vouchers sent through on Christmas Eve and then went along a couple of weeks ago in February. Smyth's said he could come down on a Sunday, after they closed, for an hour and he could go around and spend his money. They mad a right fuss of him. They got a little name badge for him, a little Smyth's top. That was really, really good actually. "

And Weston Favell Primary School recently donated £3,230 after holding their own 'Jesse Day', which involved a raffle, cake sale and 'teacher soaking'.

The school said: "We cannot wait to see you back at school soon Jesse! Keep fighting."