A CHARITY set up in memory of a York child who died of a brain tumour is giving £75,000 to help other children with the cancer.

Oscar’s Paediatric Brain Tumour Charity was founded by the family of Dunnington schoolboy Oscar Hughes, who died in May 2014, aged nine.

Its latest move is to help fund a Europe-wide clinical trial aimed at sparing young patients some of the lifelong health problems caused by high doses of chemotherapy and radiotherapy, which include cognitive impairment, deafness, kidney problems and stunted growth.

The trial, known as SIOP PNET 5, aims to find out if children with certain types of medulloblastoma - which Oscar suffered from - can receive less toxic chemotherapy and a lower dose of radiotherapy without reducing their chance of survival.

Oscar's mother Marie, who co-founded the charity six months after losing her son, said she saw first-hand how the treatments used to fight brain tumours had a devastating effects on his body and mind.

“The only way to change this for children diagnosed with medulloblastoma is by researching these cancers and finding better treatments, and we’re so proud to be involved in this work," she said.

The fund has joined forces on the project with The Brain Tumour Charity, which is investing a total of just over £1million in the trial itself and in the provision of a ‘biomarker’ test for every child in the UK who is diagnosed with a medulloblastoma.

This type of biomarker analysis provides doctors with a detailed molecular profile of each child’s medulloblastoma and paves the way for young patients to join the SIOP PNET 5 trial, said a spokeswoman for the charity.

Dr Antony Michalski, paediatric oncologist at Great Ormond Street Children’s Hospital and chief investigator in the UK for the SIOP PNET 5 trial, said: “This trial is providing the ability to give children treatment that is tailored to their tumour and signals a great step forward in brain cancer management.

“Working with our European colleagues, we are able to reduce treatment for children with lower risk tumours as well as researching ways of improving outcomes for children with standard risk disease.”

Neil Dickson,vice-chairman of The Brain Tumour Charity’s board of trustees, added: “The Brain Tumour Charity aims to halve the harm caused by brain tumours, as well as doubling survival.

“We believe this trial will help us to achieve that goal by protecting some children from a level of harmful treatment which they do not need to survive their tumour."