Jake Peach
He spent a month in a coma and had to learn to walk again while battling cancer. But valiant 12-year-old Jake Peach remains determined to turn his ordeal into a way of helping other young cancer patients.
It was Mother's Day 2008 when Jake was diagnosed with leukaemia. His first dose of chemotherapy sent his temperature soaring to 40 degrees and he started coughing up blood.
Doctors put him into a coma on a ventilator in intensive care. When he woke up a month later he couldn't move. He could only communicate by blinking. It was a fortnight before he could speak and nine weeks before he learned to walk again after intensive physiotherapy. While he was still bedridden, Jake, from Southend, Essex, decided to make a video diary of his treatment, which is now used by Great Ormond Street Hospital to guide other young cancer sufferers. Talking about his problems, he reassures viewers, "Don't worry. This won't happen to you".
And as soon as he was well enough, Jake – who is now in remission – offered to speak at hospital fundraising dinners about his experience, where he has so far encouraged a total of £130,000 to be donated to the hospital. "Throughout my treatment I had to stay positive," says Jake. "It's all about PMA – Positive Mental Attitude!"
Jake also played a key part in helping GOSH win a £500,000 sponsorship with Arsenal football club – made even more special to him because he is a huge fan of the team. "When Jake was diagnosed it was such a shock, and his treatment was horrific for the whole family," says mum Karen.
"But positive thinking, even in the lowest moments, is what got us all through. While he was in hospital he was always going up to other young patients and reassuring them. "And now he is determined to do anything he can to raise money for Great Ormond Street. He knows without them he would not be alive." Jake adds, "I left hospital after five months. It was a long road for us but it's amazing to be back at home.
"I can do every sport that I used to, I am eating properly and I am back at school. "I feel I have changed a lot from the experience. I know that if I can get through that I can get through anything, so I am determined to live my life to the full."
Senior Fundraising Executive at Great Ormond Street Hospital Children's Charity, Lindsey Burke, says, "Jake is a real inspiration to us all. Despite overcoming his own life-threatening condition, he has made an invaluable contribution to many of Great Ormond Street's fundraising events."