SEVEN-year-old Charlie Dufty is on a mission. He wants to ‘stop rotten cancer from getting everyone’.

Charlie and his younger brother Harry lost their nana, Dawn Medland of Bratton Clovelly, and auntie Sheila Kelly of Thamesmead, both to lung cancer last November at the very young ages of 58 and 57 respectively. They both had less than six months with their families following their diagnoses. Charlie has decided he is going to raise money for Cancer Research UK as he ‘doesn’t want anyone else to feel as upset as I do’.

Charlie has set himself a target of raising £200 and plans to complete a sponsored walk from his home, Moorview in Bogtown to his late nana’s house in Bratton Clovelly; a total of 4.4 miles. He has set up a fundraiser page through Cancer Research UK and has already exceeded his target many times over.

‘I decided to do the walk because my nana passed away with cancer,’ said Charlie. ‘The walk covers 4.4 miles and I thought I should do it to save more lives. Some of my friends from school are going to walk too, and my family and my great-granddad is going to come on his mobility scooter if it is dry too.’

‘He’s done really well,’ said mum Gemma. ‘His initial target was to raise £200 and he’s now up to £1,680 and there’s various collections going on around the area which we haven’t counted up yet.

‘We’ve very proud of him. I just think he feels like he is doing something positive now. He wasn’t sleeping before, he was feeing so upset, and now he feels a bit happier, that he is doing something to help.’

Charlie’s sponsored walk is on Sunday, February 18 and the plan is to set off at around 11.30 am. The route will follow the main road from his house up to Castle Cross and straight onto Bratton Clovelly, turning right at the pub to Church Meadows.

‘Obviously we’ll be walking the route with him, and a number of friends have said they would like to come along too,’ said Gemma.

She said that losing their nana Dawn, who worked as the librarian at Okehampton Primary School, had left a big hole in her sons’ lives.

‘Charlie and Harry used to do an awful lot with my mum, making things and doing gardening,’ said Gemma. ‘’They have both been crying themselves to sleep but this has helped the grieving process. Charlie wants to raise the money because he doesn’t want anyone else to feel as upset and sad as we do. So many people are contributing, the pub in Bratton Clovelly is very kindly doing a collection as well. I think it has helped all of us, not just Charlie.’

To sponsor Charlie, visit https://fundraise.cancerresearchuk.org/page/charlies-giving-page-32? or contact Charlie’s parents Gemma and Simon on 01837 871744.