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Raising money for children fighting cancer since they were 9 years old.
When best friends and football fanatics Hughie and Freddie were 9 years old, Hughie was diagnosed with a type of cancer called Leukaemia. Hughie was touched by how well the doctors and nurses on Ward 84 at Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital looked after him and wanted to give something back so he signed up to take part in one of the hospital’s fundraising initiatives called Humphrey’s Lantern Walk. Sadly, on the day of the walk Hughie was too poorly to walk but his friends and family took part in his place. Together they raised more than £21,000. Hughie felt proud of the amazing sum that they had raised and saw the impact that it had on Ward 84. He caught the fundraising bug and spread it to Freddie who was desperate to do whatever he could to help his friend Hughie who was so bravely battling cancer.
While Hughie was still in hospital Freddie set himself the challenge of running 2km every day for 50 days, with the aim of running his 100th kilometre on Christmas Day. Come rain, shine, frost or snow and no matter how busy the rest of his day was, Freddie would summon the energy to get out and run his 2km. Word of Freddie’s fundraising started to spread and soon the boys were invited onto their local BBC radio station. Before long Freddie was joined not only by friends and family, but even by some strangers and celebrities such as the players at their favourite football team, Burnley FC. On Christmas Day, Hughie mustered up the strength and determination to join Freddie for the final bit of his 2km run, running for the first time since he fell poorly in July.
By now Hughie and Freddie’s combined fundraising had raised a whopping great £250,000! The money they raised helped buy vital equipment (such as a Belmont Infusor that helps warm blood ready to transfuse), pay for a professional music therapist to host a weekly music therapy session for patients, buy a supply of fresh fruit for the ward, buy slushie pouches to soothe the sore mouths of cancer patients on the ward and re-vamp the ward to make it better for young people and teenagers.
But Freddie and Hughie wanted to do more. They saw how much of a difference they had made to Hughie’s ward and wanted to do the same to every children’s hospital in England. They decided to set themselves a new challenge, and this time Hughie was well enough to take part. Together the boys would run 1km at every Premier League and English Football League club, and raise money for the nearest children’s cancer department to each ground they visited. On top of this, the boys have written a book called ‘Friends are Amazing, Be the Best Friend you Can Be’ and 25p from each copy sold goes to the Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital. In 2021, Hughie and Freddie were awarded the Pride of Britain Award for their amazing fundraising efforts.
