A FIFTEEN-year-old who defeated cancer has smashed his fundraising target for the hospital where he was treated by raising £10,500.
Ben Lord, a Year 11 student at Haslingden High School, was at Helmshore Primary School when his mum Sarah spotted a lump on his neck.
He was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma and the gland was removed at the Royal Blackburn Hospital.
Ben, from Helmshore, was transferred to the Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital where an x-ray revealed the cancer had not spread so he did not need chemotherapy.
He has undergone check ups at the hospital ever since, firstly three months, then six and currently yearly with his five year one due in January, when he will hopefully be officially declared cancer free.
In August he organised another Benji’s Big Bash party at Haslingden Cricket Club where he is a bowler with the Under 15s team.
He said; “It was a good day and we raised £1,500, which means I have now raised £10,500.
“I originally said I wanted to raise £10,000 by the time I had been in remission for five years.
“When my dad Andrew told me how much we had managed to raise I was delighted.”
On the evening an inflatable human table football was set up with participants paying to be strapped on to a bar to play the game.
Stocks also proved popular with cricket club coaches offering themselves as targets for wet sponges.
Ben said: “We had around 100 people there and we also held an auction for a signed Tottenham football shirt, which raised £300, and a big raffle.
“I never expected to raise so much money or to reach my target so quickly.”
The money is being donated to Ward 84, the Oncology and Haematology Ward at Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital.
Although Ben has reached his personal goal, he is still continuing to help the hospital’s fundraising team and, with his mum Sarah, collected money at Gorton Carnival in the summer, completing a six mile walk at the same time.
Headteacher of Haslingden High School Mark Jackson said: “Ben is a fantastic student who has raised an incredible amount of money as his way of saying thank you.
“As a school we are very proud of all that he has achieved and wish him a happy, healthy future. He is an example to all.”