THE appeal in memory of York schoolboy Oscar Hughes has topped more than £100,000 and could now help other children with brain tumours.

Marie Hughes, mother of the Dunnington nine-year-old who died in May after an aggressive relapse in his condition, has decided to set up a charity that will specifically focus on brain tumours in children.

She said there were numerous brain tumour charities around but few that looked specifically at childhood tumours, and she felt research was needed to prevent so many children dying and also to develop treatments with less severe side effects.

She said a number of issues had to be resolved, including identifying trustees, sorting out paperwork and finding a suitable name for the charity, but, with the support of her husband Ian, she hoped to be able to register and launch it in the autumn.

Oscar originally fell ill with a brain tumour in February last year but responded well to treatment until he suffered a sudden relapse earlier this year.

A fundraising campaign was launched in April to pay for him to take part in promising research and clinical trials abroad, which raised tens of thousands of pounds in a matter of days, but then the relapse proved too aggressive to treat.

Mrs Hughes said money had continued to come in since then, taking the total amount raised to in excess of £100,000, and other fundraising was in the pipeline, including events in her homeland, Denmark. "I'd like to thank everyone so much for their support," she said.

She revealed that a lot of the charity's fundraising would involve children, and be challenging and fun, such as the marathon relay run last autumn at his school, Dunnington Primary, which involved Oscar and all his fellow pupils and staff. "That is what Oscar would have wanted," she said.

She also wanted the charity to ensure Oscar's name was not forgotten. "I laid my child to rest but not his memory," she said.