Little cancer survivor says thank you to his superheroes

Walk raises more than £2,100 for charity that helped boy and his family

A superhero-themed sponsored walk to celebrate a young boy’s recovery from cancer raised more than £2,100 for the charity that helped his family.

Adam Stewart, eight and his gran Linda Brymer raised the money for Tayside Children with Cancer and Leukaemia (TCCL) to say thank you for the support they received after Adam was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia in 2012.

The walk, through Adam’s home town of Brechin, saw around 40 people and their dogs take part dressed in costumes

Adam was only three when he spent 18 weeks in hospital.

However, despite the ordeal his parents Sarah and Ryan stayed positive, making sure Adam missed out on as little as possible.

And the support the family received from the charity was invaluable during this time.

“We first discovered TCCL when someone visited us while Adam was in the Royal Hospital for Sick Children and gave Sarah a cheque to help with travel, food and any extras,” explains Linda.

“They have been a huge support in the three and a half years Adam was ill. They paid for Ryan to learn to drive – we live in Brechin and it’s a 60-mile round trip to Ninewells – and they gave us vouchers for Tesco and Toys R Us at Christmas.”

In addition, the Stewarts were able to stay at TCCL’s lodge in St Andrews, a holiday home for sick children and their families which offers the chance to get away from the stress for a week.

Now fully recovered, Adam is like any other boy enjoying football and swimming.

And last month, to celebrate a year since his last treatment, the family decided to raise funds for TCCL.

“Adam and I were looking for something that he could take part in to raise money and decided to organise our own sponsored 10k walk,” Linda says.

“Our initial target was £500 and we were absolutely amazed that we raised £2,169.

“We hadn’t even heard of TCCL until Adam was ill. They found us when we needed them most and we want to raise awareness of the wonderful work they do.”

They found us when we needed them most

Linda Brymer with her grandson Adam Stewart and John Walker from TCCL, the charity which helped Adam’s family when he was being treated for leukaemia.