A family’s campaign to raise £500,000 to fund a new cancer treatment for Oscar Saxelby-Lee is the fastest online charity appeal ever - after half the amount was raised in just ten days. And Oscar’s family in Ross-on-Wye have been overwhelmed by offers of support for their fundraising plans.

More than 10,000 people responded when a plea went out for potential stem cell donors for five-year-old Oscar after doctors gave him three months to find a match. After a match was found, his parents Olivia and Jamie hoped it was the first step to curing their son, who has a rare T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia. But they were left devastated when they discovered the disease had returned despite Oscar’s stem cell transplant this spring.

They suffered further heartache when they were told the NHS would not fund a second transplant or a potentially new cell therapy treatment.

The desperate couple launched a fundraising drive to raise £500,000 needed to send Oscar to Singapore for the CAR-T trial.

Ten days after the appeal on Virgin Money Giving was launched, more than half the amount was been reached - making it the fastest online appeal ever.

The amount raised currently stands at £265,000.

Miss Saxelby, 23, said: “We are overwhelmed with the community spirit and generosity of Oscar’s Army. Never have we felt so supported by such an amazing amount of people. From the bottom of our hearts, thank you.”

Writing updates on the Hand in Hand for Oscar Facebook page, she wrote: “We started this campaign 10 days ago. A quarter of a million pounds raised in that time is phenomenal. We are breaking records over here and that’s all because of you.

“When we started this campaign 10 days ago, people were telling us to target the celebs, and footballers, and the big National TV shows, etc., and whilst a handful of wonderful, generous people have really come through for us, it’s actually the small businesses, the local communities, the selfless people with so little but want to give everything they have, that have led us to raising over £250,000 in just 10 days.”

Oscar was diagnosed in December with T cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, a rare and aggressive type of blood cancer.

He was given just three months to find a stem cell donor after his leukaemia worsened in February.

Around 10,000 people queued at drop-in sessions to try to help and three potential matches were found.

In May, Oscar’s family said the transplant - in which his unhealthy blood cells were replaced with stem cells from the blood or bone marrow of the donor - had been successful.

But the return of the disease has left them pinning their hopes on CAR-T therapy.

This involves removing and genetically modifying a patient’s immune cells, known as T cells, and multiplying them in the lab. They become chimeric antigen receptor T cells, or CAR-T, and are put back in the patient’s blood to find and kill the cancer cells.

This month, Great Ormond Street Hospital said its own CAR-T trial for leukaemia had "very promising results" with 12 of 14 patients clear of the disease after three months.

To donate, visit www.gkcct.org/oscar

To see more about the fundraising events being organised in Ross-on-Wye see this week’s this week’s Ross Gazette, available in shops and as Digital Edition now.