Fans salute young Sunderland cancer sufferer

Sunderland (United Kingdom) (AFP) – Five-year-old match mascot Bradley Lowery, who is battling cancer, had his name chanted and received a minute’s applause in the fifth minute of the Premier League game between Sunderland and Everton on Monday.

The youngster is presently undergoing chemotherapy after his cancer returned and his parents have launched an appeal to raise the £700,000 ($933,000) required for him to have antibody therapy treatment in the United States.

Lowery, who held Sunderland captain Jermain Defoe’s hand as the teams emerged from the tunnel and subsequently went down the line of Everton players who either shook his hand or patted him on his head, was just two when he was diagnosed with stage four neuroblastoma, which attacks the nervous system.

He was told he was in remission in December 2014 — after several operations and a first bout of chemotherapy — but the cancer returned leading to more operations.