A "huge void" has been left after a brave young boy died surrounded by his family.
Aaron Wharton was seven years old when he died with parents Nicola and Lee by his side. After a long battle with a rare and aggressive brain tumour, Aaron deteriorated whilst on holiday to Porthmadog over the Easter weekend.
He died on April 9 and Nicola and Lee promised to do all they can in his name. Speaking to the ECHO, Nicola said: "It's still incredibly hard, we are taking each day as it comes.
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"Every day leaves such a huge void, our house is so quiet without him here. He was a massive personality and it's incredibly hard trying to adjust to life without him and I don't think that will ever go away. There will always be a massive piece missing that was Aaron so we are trying to make it day by day but we made a promise to keep going and raise awareness in his name."
Aaron Wharton was four years old when his mum Nicola noticed he had a lopsided smile and was being sick. Despite numerous visits to the doctor, he was eventually diagnosed with Anaplastic Ependymoma during the 2020 lockdown and spent a lot of time in and out of Alder Hey Children's Hospital.
Aaron underwent gruelling treatment and had to learn to speak again, but in 2021 his tumour returned. Earlier this year, doctors told the North Wales family that it was a "waiting game" as his health declined, but Aaron remained strong and brave throughout.
In her son's memory, Nicola organised a fire walk to raise money for Brain Tumour Research. This was held at Wrexham FC on May 19 and an incredible £17,515 was raised which equates to six days worth of research at the charity.
Nicola added: "It was amazing, incredible. I loved every single second of it and it was incredible seeing everyone come together for Aaron. We raised £17,515 which is amazing. That's six days worth of research.
"We are about £1,600 away from getting to the seven days which would be incredible to get in Aaron's name. I was just happy to get one day's worth of research."
The family also received a very special message from Hollywood star Ryan Reynolds. In a heart-warming video sent to family and friends at the charity, Ryan said: "I want to say thank you for being here to honour Aaron's memory and I want to say thank you for all that you've done, all that you're doing and all that you continue to do to fund brain tumour research.
"There's absolutely no reason that somebody like Aaron should not be here with us today. So the work that you're doing is incredibly important and hugely impactful to so many people and I just want to thank you from the bottom of my heart."
One in three people knows someone affected by a brain tumour. They kill more children than leukaemia, yet historically just 1% of the national spend on cancer research has been allocated to brain tumours.
Mum Nicola has said her fundraising will not stop as she pledges to continue doing all she can in her son's name. She told the ECHO: "My campaigning and trying to raise awareness is not going to go away, if anything it's going to snowball. It's kept us going, anything we can do in his memory.
"We got a message from Ryan Reynolds which was incredible. We showed it to everyone on the night, it was just lovely of them to recognise what it means to us. I've now been asked to be an official fundraiser for the charity which I'm going to do in Aaron's name, we are planning a walk for hope in September which we will make as much about Aaron as possible."
For more information, and to donate, click here.
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