The family of an 11-year-old Barrow boy with a rare form of cancer want to give back to the hospital which has cared for him.

Harley Anderson was diagnosed with chronic myeloid leukaemia after a whirlwind day which took him from A&E at Furness General Hospital to Royal Manchester Children's Hospital for an operation.

Kayleigh Whiteside, Harley's mum, said: "After his blood results were back he was taken back down to theatre for a bone marrow biopsy and to have a central line fitted.

"Later that day we were to find out that our special little boy had leukaemia.

"As you can imagine, this was very hard to hear and we were all heartbroken.

"The next few days all kind of merged into each other with lots of blood tests, lots of medication and lots of tears.

"It was decided because Harley was really poorly that the safest and quickest way to bring his white cells down was for him to go for haemodialysis.

"Harley's leukaemia was confirmed to be CML (chronic myeloid leukaemia) – this is very rare in children and the way Harley presented with it was also very rare, so his case has been followed with great interest by a lot of medical personnel.

"Harley was started on chemotherapy drugs to aid the reduction of his white cells and had to have a blood transfusion to help increase his red cells back to a safe level.

"We were sat down and told that CML would be something Harley would live with for the rest of his life and the medication he was to start would be to control the leukaemia for the rest of his life."

A fundraiser was started by Harley's coaches at Walney Central rugby league club to help the family with their constant travel to and from Manchester, with stepdad Dan taking time from work to look after Harley's big brother Cameron and little sister Georgia.

And the campaign has seen a surge in popularity thanks to the Barrow community and smashed the initial £500 target.

At the time of writing, the fundraiser had reached just under £7,000.

The family decided they would like the extra funds to go towards providing televisions and games consoles for the hospital Harley is in, so the children have things 'to distract them from their illness'.

One of the Crowdfunder page organisers said: "My son is one of Harley's friends and plays on the same team as him.

"We will be walking from Ulverston to Walney on December 4 and on the way we will call at the other clubs in the area, starting at Ulverston and calling at Dalton, Barrow Island, Roose, Hindpool, Craven Park and finally Walney Central.

"We have been amazed at how well received the Crowdfunder has been and how people have gone above and beyond.

"To be honest,the whole rugby community has stepped up; we have had donations from up the west coast as well."

FIGHTER: Harley Anderson, 11, in his Walney Central kit

FIGHTER: Harley Anderson, 11, in his Walney Central kit

Harley's mum spoke of how they are now in a position where they can start to see the road home for him.

"Harley started this medication the same day but unfortunately it makes him sick meaning he is also on anti-sickness medication throughout the day to ease this," the Laurence Avenue resident said.

"With his medication doing what it should, he is feeling much better.

"He has been able to start physio to help him back onto his feet and help him walk again.

"Harley is seen daily by his many doctors and is now coming to the point we can see the road to home.

"Harley has been absolutely amazing throughout all of this; he has his good days and bad days.

"We laugh and smile and other times we've cuddled and cried.

"This boy’s strength and bravery we'll forever admire. He is our real-life superhero."

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