Ill schoolboy Harry Moseley reaches £20,000 in charity campaign
Dec 30 2009 by Edward Chadwick, Birmingham Mail
A SICK boy’s charity campaign has raised an amazing £20,000 in just five months.
Nine-year-old Harry Moseley was struck down with an inoperable brain tumour two years ago but a chance meeting with another sufferer in hospital sparked a touching fund-raising quest.
The brave schoolboy, from Sheldon, has made and sold thousands of beaded bracelets to classmates, friends and even Prime Minister Gordon Brown.
His selfless drive even led to him being named Britain’s Kindest Kid in a national competition.
Brave Harry was inspired after developing a close bond with Midland businessman Robert Harley, who was being treated in a neighbouring bed.
He set about raising money in honour of Mr Harley for research into treating brain tumours.
The youngster’s resolve was only strengthened when, four weeks into his campaign, his 55-year-old friend died of cancer.
Now, five months on, Harry is celebrating passing the £20,000 milestone.
He has braved freezing temperatures outside supermarkets and shopping centres to sell the colourful bracelets and has recruited an army of helpers from schools across the city.
Mum Georgina, aged 35, said: “I’m not sure that Harry really recognises just what he has achieved but it is amazing and we are so proud of him.
“He doesn’t want someone else to go through what he and Robert did.
“Everybody who he meets, from businessmen to the prime minister, gets the sales pitch and he sold ten bracelets to Downing Street.
“There are no signs of him stopping, quite the opposite in fact.
“He has written to the Education Secretary who has said that he will try to come to see him at school in the New Year.”
The Blakenhale Primary School pupil was diagnosed in 2007 but cannot undergo surgery because of the position of the tumour at the front of his brain.
A mixture of chemotherapy and radiotherapy treatments have helped to keep the cancer under control but Harry suffers from headaches and poor eyesight.
But nothing has been able to stop his efforts and he has recruited an army of schoolchildren so he can keep up with demand for the bracelets and allows them to keep 15p from each sale for their school funds.
