Polmont schoolboy bounces his way to help Bowel Cancer UK charity

Nine-year-old Hector Farquhar from Polmont had wanted to fundraise for Bowel Cancer UK as his great grandfather had died from the condition. But as mum Louise explained until this year there was no suitable fundraising option for the youngster.

She said: “There was nothing that was really kid friendly until this year the charity launched Active April which encouraged people to do some active every day of the month. Hector is really into trampolining so he decided that was what he wanted to do.”

Every day the St Margaret’s Primary pupil would complete 100 bounces on his trampoline in the garden – and even stuck to his challenge when away from home.

Louise added: “We hadn’t factored in the school Easter holidays and we were away for a few days but he insisted we had to find a park with a trampoline when we were spending some time in Perthshire. He didn’t want to miss a day.”

By the end of the month Hector had completed over 3000 bounces and raised over £600.

His mum, dad Andy and little brother Arthur, six, were cheering him on all the way and said they were extremely proud of his efforts.

Hector also had to factor in all his other pastimes around his bouncing – he is a member of 2nd Polmont Company of The Boys’ Brigade, is taking skiing lessons at the dry ski slope in Polmont and loves to golf. He’s also recently taken up the chanter.

"It’s very busy but he was determined to make time for his fundraising challenge,” added Louise.

Bowel cancer is the UK's second biggest cancer killer, although it is treatable and curable especially if diagnosed early.

Every 15 minutes someone is diagnosed with bowel cancer - that’s nearly 43,000 people every year, nearly 120 people every day.

Sadly, someone dies of bowel cancer every 30 minutes in the UK and Bowel Cancer UK’s latest survey shows that nearly four out of ten people in the UK don’t know the symptoms.