Pupils' marathon effort for friend with leukaemia

A group of primary school pupils have completed the equivalent of a marathon to raise money for a classmate undergoing treatment for leukaemia, raising £1,000 so far.

The pupils at St Mary's Church of England Primary School in Tunstall, Stoke-on-Trent, spent weeks running laps of the school playground during breaks and lunch in support of their friend, ten-year-old Dexter.

The challenge saw the Year Six pupils, and teachers, complete just over 420 laps of a 100-metre circuit, covering the 26.2-mile marathon distance.

While his classmates were running laps around the playground, Dexter was continuing treatment, which he said could be frightening, in hospital.

"I have to be in hospital a lot and have lots of treatment to try and fight off the cancer cells," he said.

"Every so often I have to go into a procedure so they can take bone marrow and do a lumbar puncture to see how it's affecting me."

The youngster admitted the treatment could be frightening.

"I feel scared. I'm not really sure how the treatment will work and stuff," he said.

Some days, he said, left him exhausted, but he still tried to make the most of school whenever he could.

"It really depends how I feel on the day. Some days I feel really tired where all I want to do is sit down and relax, but other days I'm feeling great and I can do lots."

After learning about Dexter's diagnosis durimg the summer, his classmates decided they wanted to help.

Friend and runner Caleb said the group chose the marathon challenge to support Dexter and raise money for charity.

"We wanted to show respect to him and raise money so that he could have some but also give some to Cancer Research."

The pupil felt the challenge was far from easy.

"It's been quite hard because it's around 420 laps on this 100-metre track," he said.

"We only started doing 25 laps, then we increased that to 50 and 60."

Edward said the boys were motivated by their friendship.

"We felt very bad for him so we thought we should do a challenge to raise some money for him," he said.

"He is one of the best friends that we could have in our school, so we were all very sad to miss him."

Head teacher Claire Morton said the pupils had shown remarkable commitment.

"I think they're so enthusiastic and so driven to raise this money and complete this challenge for Dexter that it's really spurred them on."

Teacher Michelle Green said she had been touched by the pupils' determination to support their friend.

"I just thought it was so beautiful that they wanted to do something for the friend who's battling cancer," she said.

"I never thought they'd want to take on such a challenging task."

Even bad weather failed to stop them but did have the added effect of dragging their teacher into the rain.

"When we've had indoor play because of the rain, they've come knocking on my classroom door saying, 'Mrs Green, can you come out with us? We've still got 50 laps to do.'"

Dexter said he was amazed by what his classmates had achieved.

"I'm feeling really proud because doing the marathon is quite hard," he said.

Seeing what his friends had achieved left him grateful.

"If I didn't have cancer and it was one of my friends, I wouldn't know what to do. I don't think I would be doing a marathon, he said".

"It's really amazing."

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