Brave Sheffield lad's short story 'Catheter Boy' brought to life by 8 Out of 10 Cats' Jon Richardson

Alfie Exelby, aged eight, has had to face up to some scary trips to Sheffield Children’s Hospital in the past year for kidney troubles.

The stout-hearted schoolboy has had to go in for operations, taken on test after test, and learned to live with a suprapubic catheter on his journey to get better.

But now he wants to help other children in his position not to feel scared on their trips to hospital – through his short story, Catheter Boy.

Clad in red and yellow, the incredible Catheter Boy flies around the world with his magic cape and battles dangerous monsters by opening his flip-flow and blasting them with wee.

The heroic piddler’s adventures include extinguishing a lava monster, curing mass jellyfish stings ‘the old fashioned way’ and solving world hunger by watering the planet’s crops.

The heroic tale has been illustrated by Alfie’s sister Nancy, nine, and is now on track to raise over £1,000 for Sheffield Children’s Hospital.

"I wrote it because I wanted to help other kids going to hospital,” said Alfie. “And help the people who help those kids.

"My favourite bit in the story is when the giant ‘venus human-trap’ eats Little Jimmy, but he gets burped out later, so he turns out fine.”

Alfie’s mum, Sarah, says she is touched her lad has taken a life-changing turn in his health and used it to help others, and has thrown herself into fundraising for the hospital trust.

She said: “He’s done so well.

"It started when we were driving back from the hospital one day. It’s can be a scary time when you visit, so we were making jokes about it, and ended up joking about a superhero who fights his enemies with his catheter.

"When Alfie got home he just got straight on to writing it. It really made me smile.”

Through bucket rattles and online donations, Sarah, Alfie and Nancy have raised over £835 for the hospital and are on track to hit £1,000.

But now thousands more are likely to hear the story of Catheter Boy – as it has been brought to life by comedian Jon Richardson.

The 8 Out of 10 Cats maestro, who is a patron of Sheffield Children’s Hospital, has made a video from the CBeebies Bedtime Stories studio.

In a captivating reading, viewers can now watch Jon’s lively performance of Alfie’s story – including an impressive moment when the comedian burps on cue.

You can watch Jon’s reading of Catheter Boy using the video on the top of this page on The Star website.

Sarah said: “It’s really good. He’s such a good performer. I can’t believe he’s done this for Alfie.

"The next step is to try and get it properly published. When I’ve shown it to Alfie’s nurses and doctors they ask where they can get a copy to show their patients to cheer them.

"It’s like there needs to be more to normalise having these medical procedures for children.

"If there are any publishers out there who can help for free, please get in touch.”

Sarah pointed to journalist Deborah James, aka Bowelbabe, who touched hearts across the world with her podcast ‘You, Me and the Big C’, which chronicled her incurable bowel cancer.

For more information or if you would like to read Catheter Boy, visit Alfie’s GoFundMe page, where you can message Sarah to send you a copy.

Alternatively, you can watch Jon Richardson’s captivating reading of Catheter Boy using the video on the top of this page on The Star website.