SCORES of people from the Whitley community have come together to raise funds for a brave young teenager with a rare type of cancer.

Levi Pembroke-Voyce, 14, was diagnosed with a kind of Ewing’s sarcoma, which affects soft tissue, back in April and has since had a 2.2kg tumour removed from his chest cavity and begun a course of chemotherapy at John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford.

Simon Voyce, Levi’s stepdad said: “The surgeons told us they had never seen such an aggressive cancer in someone so young before.”

The next move is to send Levi for a specialised radiotherapy treatment which is only available in Florida and Oklahoma and though the NHS can pay for him and his mother to fly there, friends and family wanted to make the trip that bit more special for the teen.

Sam Tombs, the friend behind Saturday’s fundraiser at St Barnabas Church, said: “The family is going to be separated for quite a while so I wanted to do something to help make it easier for them. They will be away for six to eight weeks and I didn’t want his only memories of the trip to be of having treatment.”

Levi came out on the day to see the stalls and attractions, which raised around £420, and despite having spent the morning undergoing a session of chemotherapy his spirits were high. He said: “It’s really nice to see everyone here. I’m a little nervous about going away but it will be exciting to go on a jumbo jet.”

The 14-year-old Bulmershe pupil has been an inspiration to his parents and his stepdad said that in the five months since his diagnosis the youngster had completely changed.

Simon said: “He has just taken everything in his stride since that day and he keeps saying he is going to beat this thing.”

Anyone who wishes to donate should email lovintracy@msn.com