A CAR boot sale by a Liphook family in aid of the Royal Marsden Hospital has managed to raise close to £2,000.

When Emma and Fred Jones discovered earlier this year that their 12-year-old son Alfie was suffering from Ewing’s sarcoma, a rare bone cancer in children, their lives changed dramatically.

Emma said: “Alfie started feeling unwell in March, but when he was diagnosed with the disease on June 8, at the Royal Surrey in Guildford, he was immediately rushed off to St George’s Hospital in London.

“After a two-hour operation on his spine, we were unsure whether he would be able to walk again or be paralysed from the waist down, which could possibly last for two years or more.

“We were so relieved when he was able to wiggle his toes after the operation and showed positive signs. He had to start his chemotherapy treatment three days after the operation and has since improved so much more.”

Alfie regularly attends the Oak Centre at the Royal Marsden Hospital in Sutton for his chemotherapy and radiotherapy sessions, where he has to undergo an intense programme every two weeks.

“I wanted to give something back for all the support we as a family and Alfie have received from the Marsden, when my mum Angie came up with the idea of a car boot sale,” Emma recalled.

With September being Childhood Awareness Month, the family chose to act straight away.

“People were extremely generous in donating items and we filled up three vans with clothes, toys, bric-a-brac, toiletries, jewellery and other things to sell at Country Market near Kingsley,” she said.

“They gave us a discount for the vehicles over at Country Market, and we put up lots of banners and balloons to let people know that the sale was for charity. We still have lots left over and are planning another car boot sale in October to raise more money.”

Alfie’s intense treatment at the Oak Centre is due to finish at the end of January next year. While he is in residence, he can take part in any activities provided or join other children in the school room.

“Alfie did start at Bohunt School, but his tuition had to be put on hold for a while, until he is well enough to continue,” Emma said.

“At the Marsden he is able to use all his creative talents - like designing his own trainers through the children’s charity CLIC Sargent as well as paint beautiful silk pictures.

“As a family we are very positive that he will recover fully, and much is due to the continued help from his oncologist Dr Zacharuilw and his clinical nurse Helen Pearson.

“At first, when you find out that your child has cancer, you feel completely helpless and angry, but when you experience the support given by everyone at the Royal Marsden, you start to become positive again.

“The person who is giving us all the strength to deal with this is Alfie himself - he is our star!”

Emma and Fred have since discovered that there is another young man in Liphook suffering from the same cancer as Alfie. Ewing’s sarcoma is a bone cancer which occurs in ribs, the pelvis and spine.