THE mother of Harrison Ledsham has paid a touching tribute to her son, who she described as "one in a million".

The 12-year-old schoolboy from Haydock won a place in the hearts of the people of St Helens with his strength of character, fighting spirit and cheeky smile that shone through as he battled bone cancer.

On Thursday night surrounded by his family the courageous youngster died at Alder Hey Children's Hospital.

It is the second devastating loss for parents Karen and Paul after their daughter Abigail died shortly before her second birthday in 2008 from Sandhoff's disease.

St Helens Star:

  • Harrison at home with his family, including mum Karen

Speaking to the Star today, Karen said: "We always knew he was special but now we now how special. He was caring and always put others first. He was respectful and considerate and never gave us any trouble.

"From one treatment to the next he kept fighting. He just wanted to see an end to it. As we let him go we told him he had beaten it but he had just got tired."

Karen said that following Harrison's diagnosis last year she and Paul were told the disease had already spread to his lungs but they took a decision not to tell him the terrible news.

Karen added: "We didn't want to tell him (last summer) because we at least wanted to give him a chance. It started with one nodule in his lung but had spread to 30 plus at Christmas time. It was then they (the doctors) told us there was nothing they could do.

"But we did everything we could. We were always on the internet with clinics in America and Europe to see what treatments they were using. Eventually we found a clinical trial in Newcastle. We knew it wouldn't cure him but it showed promise.

"We didn't go into detail with Harrison about why we were going to Newcastle but didn't like lying to him. We were protecting him. After we lost Abigail he saw how sad we were and he wanted to protect us.

"We travelled there every two weeks. He took tablets every day and after eight weeks it was stable. It was the best news I had had in ages. That was two months after January.

"(But) last Monday he had a scan and it had spread. We told him we had done what we needed to do and he had stopped the treatment. It was the happiest he had been in a long time.

"This Monday he had started to struggle to breathe. Paul (his father) had a bit of a bad chest too so we put it down to an infection or thought it may be stress related. Then on Wednesday he was still struggling so he was x-rayed and they found his lungs were full. He was moved to a high dependency unit.

"But yesterday morning (Thursday) he woke up and had everybody laughing. He was thanking everyone that came to see him. He told us he loved us and he was sorry he was poorly."

However, last night Harrison's condition deteriorated rapidly and the family were left with the heartbreaking decision to turn off his life support.

St Helens Star:

  • Saints players dropped in at his home last year for a suprise visit

Karen, 42, said the outpouring of condolence messages has been a "comfort".

She added: "I can't believe how everybody's been.

"We believe in the afterlife and Harrison would often run in with white feathers saying it is grandma and Abigail. As Harrison was going we asked him to send us some sort of sign and when we got up this morning there were six white feathers in the garden."