Beth Hughes

Two football teams will go head to head to raise funds for a five-year-old Buckley boy with leukemia.

Jacob Jones was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia last summer, and his mother, Jen Jones, of Buckley, told the Leader shortly after: “I was devastated but shocked more than anything, because it’s just not something we would have expected.”

Jen first noticed things weren’t quite right when Jacob was suffering for a prolonged period with tonsillitis last June.

The doctors gave him antibiotics but it was taking “ages” for the youngster to recover.

From January to March, Jacob went to the doctor a handful of times as a result of “little things” Jen noticed, including not drinking or eating a lot and complaining of his little sore legs.

Jen said: “I knew he wasn’t 100 per cent himself so we saw a different doctor because the others just kept saying it’s a bug, but he said I think it’s best we get it checked out.

“They tested his blood and that’s when they realised what it was.”

The illness affects bone marrow and is also known as cancer of the white blood cells. The Southdown Primary School pupil in Buckley is now six months in to a three-year-long course of chemotherapy treatment.

Jen said: “There will be rounds where it will be less intensive and he will have a break. If they treated it for a short amount of time it would come back, which is why it takes three years.”

The mum of three said Jacob loves school, and takes time off to travel to Alder Hey Children’s Hospital in Liverpool for treatment every week.

Many of Jen and her husband Phil’s family and friends have been raising funds and awareness to help them through this difficult time.

This includes a charity football match on Sunday, March 18, at Hawkesbury Playing Fields, near the Elfed High School, in Buckley.

Cllr Neil Cropper, who also coaches Buckley Junior FC, said the charity match is set to be a “really interesting one.”

He explained: “A team of us have been playing in Buckley for a few years – the Black Lion Team. We’ll be playing the Shamrock Team who are a bit younger. Most of us are a bit older and football is a bit more of a struggle, so it should be interesting.

“It should be really successful and we all have a really good day. We’ve raised around £500 in the kitty so far and a lot of local businesses have promised donations.”

Neil encourages everyone to get down to the pitch and drop some cash into the buckets, to help cover the travel and expenses of the family’s weekly drives to Alder Hey and back.

For the charity auction, held in the Black Lion in Buckley after the patch, a pair of boxing gloves signed by Paddy Doherty, Nathan Gormon and Ricky Hatton have been donated, courtesy of Buckley Boxing Club. Signed football shirts donated by Lee Jones, former Wrexham, Liverpool and Tranmere striker, are also up for grabs.

The game will kick off at 11am and the Jones family welcome all to the fundraiser.