A SEVEN-year-old boy who battled cancer has raised more than £6,000 for the hospital that helped him – by bouncing on his pogo stick.

Zac Blyton from Bicester took on the challenge for Oxford Hospitals Charity on Saturday.

With his trusty pogo stick, he bounced for ten minutes on the hour, every daylight hour, throughout the day and completed 7,800 ‘boings’.

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Zac first picked up a pogo stick in the middle of the Spring lockdown and he loved it.

He quickly became a bit of an expert, bouncing every day and thrilled at his record of 490 consecutive bounces.

Oxford Mail:

But overnight things changed as from being a bundle of energy, he stopped eating, felt lethargic and had very painful stomach cramps.

A trip to the Horton General Hospital in Banbury in May resulted in x-Rays, ultrasounds and a CT scan, before Zac was taken to the John Radcliffe.

Biopsy results showed Zac had Non-Hodgkin’s Burkitt lymphoma, a cancer of the lymphatic system in his bowel.

His mother Jenni Blyton said: “This is an aggressive cancer that needs to be treated in an aggressive way. So there are long stays in hospital undergoing a really tough treatment regime, with gallons of chemotherapy drugs, countless lumbar punctures, and scans, tests and the odd blood transfusion along the way.”

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He had 37 doses of IV chemo during his treatment. The longest took 24 hours and he had to have five doses in succession.

Zac said: “Having chemo is boring and makes you feel rubbish.”

Oxford Mail:

After four months, his treatment is finally over and Zac is now in remission.

His mum said: “It’s left him with painful joints and he is tired, but it has not killed off his cheeky personality or stubbornness to see things through.”

Zac decided he wanted to help other local children with cancer and hatched a plan to raise funds for Oxford Hospitals Charity.

He wanted to support the Oxford Children’s Hospital and particularly children on Kamran’s Ward, which looks after young cancer patients.

He smashed his pre-cancer record of 490 bounces non stop during his bouncy fundraiser at the weekend, managing an incredible 1,331 continuous bounces.

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Zac said: “It was hard, but it made me happy. It was fun to do.”

Oxford Mail:

His mum said: “It’s been a really special day and I am so proud of Zac. Doing this challenge has really given him something to look forward to, and he has loved seeing the fundraising total grow.”

Nicole Silvester, from Oxford Hospitals Charity, said: “It’s been fantastic working with Zac and his family and finding out more about this determined little chap.

“How wonderful that in the midst of such a difficult time he was thinking of how he could help other children.”

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