Cancer hero Oscar Saxelby-Lee is facing fresh heartbreak as his family struggle to insure him for a dream trip to Australia - despite being in remission for two years.
The eight-year-old won the nation’s heart in his battle against leukaemia after raising enough money for life-saving treatment in Singapore in 2020.
Oscar became only the second child in the world to undergo CAR-T therapy with the help of a £600,000 crowdfunding campaign.
Two years on, his mum Olivia Saxelby, 26, says Oscar "is thriving" and the family were looking forward to a much-needed holiday to Australia next month.
But after booking tickets to Sydney, Olivia and partner Jamie Lee, 29, were left devastated when nobody would offer Oscar travel insurance due to his cancer history.
They have now been left in limbo as multiple insurance companies and brokers refuse to medically insure Oscar's eagerly-awaited trip.
The family, from St John's, Worcester, now face the prospect of Oscar not being able to travel despite it being the youngster's "dream" to see his best friends in Australia.
Olivia said: "I'm not angry, but I'm just really frustrated. After everything he has gone through Oscar absolutely deserves this trip.
"His best friends now live in Sydney and they Facetime every night, he has wanted to go to Australia ever since they moved just before he had his op in Singapore.
"To have that dream potentially taken away from him after all he has endured is just really upsetting.
"I know there are bigger things happening in the world at the moment and we even thought should we go but with Oscar we consider time as precious and you have to seize these opportunities.
"His consultant has even written a document declaring that he is safe to travel to Australia but even that is not enough.
"He is very aware of what he's been through and this would break his heart. I haven't told him yet because I'm still hopeful there's a way past this."
Oscar Saxelby-Lee's journey to becoming cancer free
Oscar, nicknamed Ozzy, was just four-years-old when he was diagnosed with an aggressive blood cancer in December 2018.
Full-time carer Olivia and painter and decorator Jamie launched an appeal for stem cell donors after doctors warned he had just three months to start treatment.
A record-breaking 4,855 volunteers queued in the rain after Oscar's Pitmaston Primary School opened as a testing centre in March 2019.
He underwent an operation but he faced a further blow when the cancer returned.
A crowdfunding drive then raised £600,000 to fly him to Singapore for pioneering treatment not available on the NHS.
Three months later he returned home before he was finally declared cancer free in October 2020.
He has been left with ongoing side effects including an iron overload and kidney impairment but his mum says he has been doing "amazingly well."
Olivia added: "He's gone from being told he might never be able to walk to running around like any normal eight-year-old boy.
"Insurance companies even insure terminal patients so we're just a bit shocked that nobody will help Oscar.
"We must be into double figures now for the different companies and brokers we've tried. It's just a nightmare.
"We're just getting nowhere at the moment and we want to take our little boy on the holiday he has earned."
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