Exeter City FC are delighted to welcome Hughie and Freddie to SJP on Saturday as they complete the sixth lap of their 100km Football Ground Challenge, raising money for each club's local children's oncology ward.
In September 2020 Hughie, then aged 10, was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia. His best friend Freddie, wanted to help and decided to set himself a fundraising challenge.
He worked out it was just over 50 days to Christmas so decided to set himself the challenge of running a Junior Park Run - 2km - every day for 50 days and finish on Christmas Day to raise money for the Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital where Hughie is being treated. His initial target of £1000 was smashed within days and Freddie’s selflessness to help Hughie and Hughie’s bravery while facing gruelling rounds of chemotherapy soon became a heartwarming story that seemed to resonate with the general public during the misery of the 2020 winter lockdown. Appearances on national TV catapulted their fundraising to another level and so far the boys have raised almost £250K to help the poorly children at RMCH.
Their fundraising was recognised by BBC Radio Lancashire when they won a Pride Of Lancashire award. They also won the fundraising award at the Pride Of Manchester and then went on to be awarded Young Fundraisers at the Pride Of Britain Awards in November. With Hughie feeling better, the boys wanted to take on another challenge that they could do together. Both Hughie and Freddie are huge football fans so they came up with the idea of running another 100km each by completing 1km around the pitch of every EFL and Premiership football ground - 92 in total. The other 8km they are hoping to complete at other notable sporting grounds.
They kicked off on Boxing Day 2021 at their beloved Turf Moor and are now embarking on a national adventure ticking off every ground on the list. The money they raise at each ground will go directly to the local Children's Hospital where they hope the money raised will buy slushies* for every child receiving treatment for cancer.
Hughie and Freddie will complete their 6th lap here at St James Park on Saturday, and all the money raised will go directly to the Bristol Royal Children’s Hospital.
To donate please visit: https://www.justgiving.com/team/hughieandfreddie
To follow their story: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hughieandfreddie/
*Why Slushies? One of the side effects of chemotherapy is severe mouth ulcers and sores making it often too painful for a child to eat or even drink. A slushie not only gives the child vital liquid, the coldness also helps to soothe the pain and it turns your tongue blue!