Little Bradley Lowery ‘doesn’t have long left’ as his cancer has tragically spread

6-year-old Bradley Lowery became the nation's hero at the BBC Sports Personality of the Year

Little Bradley Lowery captured the hearts of the nation after he appeared at the BBC Sports Personality of the Year awards in December as their guest of honour.

Bradley, six, was just three-years-old when he was diagnosed with neuroblastoma, but in his short life he has achieved so much - even becoming best friends with Sunderland striker Jermaine Defoe.

But devastatingly, his mum Gemma has announced that his cancer has spread, and that he "doesn't have long left".

In a heartbreaking Facebook post that went up yesterday, Gemma, whose family are from County Durham, said that Bradley had now been moved home and was receiving palliative care.

Palliative care is a term that means care to make you comfortable at the end of your life, not to cure. According to Marie Curie, it is: "...For people living with a terminal illness where a cure is no longer possible."

Gemma wrote: "Bradley had a scan on Monday and it showed what we feared. Bradley's cancer is spreading at a very fast rate and he has now got lots of new tumours, including in his lungs.

"The lump that was causing pain was originally thought to be a abscess has got bigger and they now believe it's a tumour. We are heartbroken this is happening so fast."

Gemma added that Bradley, whose rise to fame all began when he appeared as Sunderland FC's mascot, will be having radiotherapy at the end of this week. She said: "This is to control the pain in the hope we get him comfortable."

She also added that a lot of people were asking how long Bradley might live for, writing: "I can't answer this as we don't know, all we know is it's not long."

Bradley is a football fanatic, and got the chance to play with Sunderland's players - his favourite team (Credit: Twitter/ Sunderland AFC)

Over £800,000 has been generously donated for Bradley's treatment since he came into the spotlight, and Gemma assured followers that this will go to a foundation they will set up in his name to help other children.

She wrote: "We have had messages asking where is the money going that has been raised. Please rest assured that all funds that have been raised for Bradley's treatment will be put into the Bradley Lowery Foundation Charity," adding that they are currently in the process of setting it up.

She concluded by saying: "What I will say is because of all the support we have received from you lovely people, we are now in a position to be able to help a lot of children. Thank you to everyone."

Our thoughts are with Bradley and his family at this difficult time. ❤️

Donate to Bradley's fight here.

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