A boy of 13 who launched a solo mission to raise £1,000 for a cancer charity died from a brain tumour – just days after it was detected through a routine eye test.
Arran Tosh had no idea he was ill until an optician spotted pressure behind his eyes and booked an MRI scan.
Doctors discovered a tumour and carried out emergency surgery within two days but he died just six days later.
The diagnosis came weeks after he had set up a JustGiving page for Cancer Research UK.
Arran began fund-raising after his aunt, Kerry, was diagnosed with breast cancer and vowed to shave his head if he reached his target.
On his page, Arran wrote: ‘I have friends and family who have gone through or are going through dealing with cancer and I want to offer my help, however small.’
Since his death, donations have soared to £11,750.
His mother, Alison, 43, said keen singer and actor Arran would have been ‘astounded’ by people’s generosity. ‘We always believed we had been sent a wee angel,’ she said. ‘He can do many more things from heaven than he could do down here.’
She said his family, including sisters Abbie, 18, Chloe, 20, and father Stephen, hope to set up a trust called The Smile Of Arran to carry on his work.
‘All he ever wanted to be was someone who made people happy,’ said Mrs Tosh. Arran, of Sudbury, Suffolk, was admitted to West Suffolk Hospital, in Bury St Edmunds, on June 2, for surgery but died on Saturday following complications.
His mother said: ‘Because the tumour was slow-growing, and had been growing for years, he could have been busking or playing football and just collapsed. It is painful but we have gained comfort from the lovely messages we have received.’