NEWS that an appeal for money to pay for cancer treatment for Worcester boy, Oscar Saxelby-Lee, has passed the halfway stage less than a fortnight in is truly staggering. It took supporters just ten days to raise more than £250,000 for the five year old. Yesterday, the fund stood at £265,000 and rising.

Will it be enough? Nobody yet knows. Oscar's family have been told he has only a three to five week window when he will be strong enough to travel to Singapore and undergo specialist therapy in a bid to cure him of the aggressive leukaemia he has been battling for nine months. Even then, there are no guarantees.

A quarter of a million pounds is a huge sum - but fundraisers still have to double it and fast. There is no time to lose - but it is right, perhaps, to pause briefly to appreciate this huge effort.

There have been sizeable donations but the list of online donors shows it is the dozens upon dozens of £5 and £10 gifts from individuals - through cake sales, non-uniform days and mini-fetes - that have bolstered this fund.

Together, this community is doing something truly remarkable.