Watch as Spandau Ballet singer Tony Hadley sings ‘Bear Necessities’ to four-year-old Oliver Stephenson
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The Spandau Ballet singer, known for hits such as 'Gold' and 'True', sent Oliver a Facebook video message, dedicating a special version of the 'Bear Necessities' to him.
Four-year-old Oliver was diagnosed with neuroblastoma in January this year and is currently undergoing treatment in hospital.
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Hide AdHis dad, James, is with him where he must remain for a month, leaving Oliver’s mum, Laura, and brother, Alfie staying at home.
In January next year, he will need a kind of treatment - called Bivalent vaccine - which is only available in America and costs £230,000. The community has since rallied around to support the family, raising funds for him to get the treatment he needs.
Wet Wet Wet singer Marti Pellow recently dedicated a performance of ‘Goodnight Girl’ in a video performance to help raise these much needed funds - and now Tony Hadley has taken the same initiative.
Hadley dedicated a performance of ‘Bear Necessities’ from the Disney Classic, ‘The Jungle Book, which is one of Oliver’s favourite films.
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Hide AdHe speaks to Oliver in the video, saying: “I hear your favourite song is bear necessities from The Jungle Book, now when I was your age I loved that as well - and i still do actually, but I bet you know the words better than I do.”
Laura, Oliver’s mum, said she is so grateful for the support of the community and her friends who helped spread awareness about Oliver’s condition and capturing the attention of the stars.
She said: “Oliver’s chemotherapy and cell transplant is now done, but the chemotherapy killed all his healthy cells along with the cancerous cells - so he has really low immunity at the moment and that’s why we can’t risk seeing him in hospital.
“It’s been hard but we’re getting there, we’re halfway through the month so Oliver will be able to come home soon.
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Hide Ad“He’s doing OK, but following the chemotherapy he’s been suffering from tummy aches, appetite loss and high temperatures but once his transplanted cells kick in he’ll be back to himself.
“It was such a nice surprise when I saw Tony’s video, a friend sent him a message and explained Oliver’s story and I had to choose a song from a list for Tony to sing, so I chose one that Oliver would like best.”
With Laura not being able to see her son in hospital the last couple of weeks have been heartbreaking , but life is carrying on as normal and the public have really stepped up to raise those vital funds for Oliver.
Laura said: “We’ve got a Facebook group where people can share what they’ve been doing to help raise funds and we keep them updated with how he’s doing.
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Hide Ad“A few people have been doing an Everest challenge, which we’re half way through, we climb 122 flights of stairs every day.
“That’s really brought in a lot of donations, so we’ve been challenging friends and family to join in.
“We also do a ‘Where’s Olly?’ which is a play on ‘Where’s Wally?’ challenge, in which Oliver hides somewhere in his room at the hospital, James takes a photo and uploads it to social media so people can try and spot him.”
To find out more see the Facebook group, Oliver's journey to beat Neuroblastoma, or to donate towards his treatment in America click here