Sheffield Wednesday: Important update on Jude Mellon-Jameson fundraising push as brave youngster begins radiotherapy

Three-year-old Jude Mellon-Jameson, whose dad Arron spent six years coming through the ranks as a goalkeeper at Wednesday, was diagnosed with high-risk neuroblastoma last year just a few days before his third birthday.

It’s a rare and aggressive disease that has a strong chance of relapse even once this course of treatment proves successful. Little Jude, who delivered the match ball before the Owls’ clash with Rotherham United earlier this month, has already undertaken a course of chemotherapy.

The family have been told Jude has a 40-50% chance of survival beyond five years. Should he relapse, the chances of survival drop to just five per cent.

The family are campaigning to raise £350,000 for a course of treatment in the US that aims to eliminate the chances of neuroblastoma returning.

Jude started a course of radiotherapy this week and as ever has taken it in his stride, battling bravely on, his dad told The Star.

“It’s every morning for two-and-a-half weeks,” he explained. “He needs to be put asleep for it because he’s too young to keep still.

“The treatment is only for four minutes but it’s obviously a case of general anaesthetic every day. He’s OK, we’ll get past this and then we’re into immunotherapy which will be for about six months.

“He faces into it with a smile so the least we can do is the same. We're not going to show him anything else when he’s putting a brave face on.”

Over £35,000 has been raised – much of it donated by football supporters all across South Yorkshire – on a JustGiving page set up to collect funds for the youngster’s American treatment.

But the family have taken the decision to move their fundraising push to specially-designed site platform Solving Kids Cancer, which will allow the fund to keep any Gift Aid donations.

“Solving Kids Cancer are a registered charity set up by families that have been through a similar thing,” Arron explained.

“They help families fundraise, so they’ll provide marketing support and the big thing is that they allow us to keep the gift aid donations, which is a big thing when we’re trying to raise six figures.

“Any surplus donations stay in trust and are used for clinical trials in the UK, too, which is important to us. We want to make sure that if we hit our target, the rest of that money goes to a good cause.”

You can donate to Jude’s fund at www.solvingkidscancer.org.uk/appeal/jude – the family have also set up a text-based donation service, whereby anyone wishing to help the cause can donate via their phone by texting the word ‘JUDE’ followed by the number 5, 10, 15 or 20 to 70450.

The number on the text should correspond to the preferred donation amount (ie ‘JUDE 10’ to donate £10), which will be added onto to your phone bill. This will cost your donation plus your standard network charge.