A NINE-year-old boy from West Devon showed his compassion for his seriously ill friend by undertaking a sponsored swim.

Harry Reddicliffe, from Sydenham Damerel, organised the fundraising event by himself and swam 20 lengths to show his friend Emma, 12, who suffers with a rare form of brain cancer, that he was thinking of her.

Emma, 12, lives in Canada with her family and has been battling with cancer since the age of nine. She had several surgeries to remove the tumour and went into remission. Unfortunately, two years after diagnosis, Emma and her family were told that cancer had been found in her spine.

Emma has since been on rounds of chemotherapy but at the present time is too ill to cope with chemotherapy treatment. She is currently resting until her platelet count increases and her family are deciding upon a new course of treatment.

Harry, a pupil of Lamerton Primary School, managed to raise almost £700 for Emma and her family and was helped in training by his dad Steve and his older brother Jack, 14.

Harry’s mum Judith said: ‘Emma and her family live in Canada and her dad Darrell is one of my closest friends. His parents paid for them to come over at Christmas and we were able to meet up which was brilliant.

‘Harry set himself a target of ten lengths and actually swam 20 with his dad and Martin Budden — a family friend. Harry was just raising money for Emma and her family to help with their day-to-day living I think and to show he was thinking of them.

‘Steve and I are incredibly proud of him. Darrell had sent a message to say that they were struggling and I got upset about Emma being so ill. At the time Darrell was having tests as well. Harry asked if he could swim for Emma and I said that was a lovely thing to do.

’Steve took him swimming a couple of times to practice and Miss Nicholls (head teacher at Lamerton Primary) helped him to write a letter to send out to the school community. Lauren at Meadowlands agreed that Harry could do his sponsored swim there free of charge and they were great at looking after us.

‘We set up a Just Giving page and did a sponsorship form but it was all Harry’s idea and he was in charge. He is so incredibly kind and caring and helps anybody out.’

Melody Nicholls, headteacher at Harry’s school, said: ‘I am so very proud of Harry. He decided to do the sponsored swim and organised the whole event. He even wrote a letter to send out to parents.

‘Harry is such a caring and thoughtful boy. I am thrilled he did so well, swimming even further than he planned! The money he raised will really help Emma. He should be very proud of himself.’