Wee Oscar’s legacy raises over £600,000 for charity

Brave five-year-old Oscar passed away on May 8 after battling childhood cancer neuroblastoma for two-and-a-half-years.

Since his death, donations have continued to pour in on the Justgiving pages set up to support the youngster’s fight against the aggressive disease.

Prior to his funeral, Oscar’s family asked that donations in lieu of flowers and teddies should be made to Northern Ireland Children’s Hospice and the Haematology Unit at The Royal Belfast Hospital for Sick Children. As of May 15, the fund had raised just over £36,000 for the two organisations. In addition, the Oscar Knox Neuroblastoma Children’s Cancer Alliance (NCCA) Justgiving page has raised almost £370,000, bringing the total for these three groups to £403,736.17

Since the beginning of Oscar’s illness, several Justgiving groups were set up to fundraise for his treatment. In total, the group of organisations who joined together under the ‘Wee Oscar’s NCCA UK Team’ achieved a fundraising total of £636,057.44.

Many Justgiving pages were set up by members of the public, who backed Oscar’s fight through their own fundraising initiatives. A sponsored walk from Jordanstown’s Loughshore Park raised £8,100.94, while a member of the public who scaled three mountains in the Republic of Ireland raised £2,120. A Belfast to Dublin cycle challenge raised £1,140, while a sponsored abseil raised £1,395.

The comments left by donors on the Justgiving pages are evidence of the love and respect which Oscar inspired during his fight against illness. One comment reads: “Inspiration to us all. So sad that you have left us but you’ll always be with us in our hearts and minds! RIP wee man.” Another stated: “Never to be forgotten. We’ll tell the kids about the kid named Oscar and should they give a fraction to the world of what this wee fella gave, then it’s all gonna be just fine...Thank you. #fearless”