Jayden’s helping hand for friend Laia
A six-year-old schoolboy knew he had to do something when his friend was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumour.
Newmains Primary pupil Jayden Ross is best friends with seven-year-old Laia Jenkins, whose parents were recently told she had unsurvivable Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma (DIPG).
Jayden, who keeps in constant contact with Laia through Facetime, decided to do something to help his friend and organised a sponsored cycle around Strathclyde Park.
His proud mum Nicola said: “The two of them are the best of friends.
“Laia comes up to our house and Jayden goes down to hers.
“He knows what’s going on with Laia and it was very hard to explain it to him but you do the best you can.
“He speaks to her on Facetime when she is in the hospital. They just chat away.
“He came to me last week and said that he wanted to do something for Laia and suggested a bike ride.
“Within a couple of days we had organised sponsor sheets and said we would go round the park with him.”
Jayden, together with his mum, aunt Donna Mitchell and gran Lucy McDowall, successfully completed one lap of the park.
And thanks to a huge number of sponsors who came forward within just a few days, a delighted Jayden was able to tell his friend he had raised more than £1000.
The money raised will go towards letting Laia fulfil her bucket list, which includes a trip to Disney World in Florida and a visit to Chester Zoo.
The modest youngster said: “It felt really good to do it.
“I told Laia I was going to do it when we were speaking on Facetime.
“She told me she would get me a present because I did it.”
Nicola added: “We went round on foot and Jayden went on his bike.
“It’s about four miles, so by the end of it I wish we had been on bikes as well.
“I’m really proud of him. I didn’t know how this news would affect him but I told him what he has done was a very nice thing.
“We couldn’t believe when we got the final total. We had £989 and some money was still to come in.
“My mum took a sponsor form around her work at Asda in Hamilton and Donna had been round her workmates at Dingbro, so we have to thank everyone who sponsored Jayden.
“I’ve been keeping Laia’s mum up to date with how Jayden was getting on.
“They couldn’t believe he had done this off his own back.”