FOOTBALLING tots in Thurrock are hoping to be spot on as they support a charity that works wonders for families of children being treated for cancer.

As part of the national challenge to fundraisers to commemorate Captain Sir Tom Moore by doing something 100 times the 'Future Rocks' youth section at East Thurrock United will be taking part in a penalty competition with a century of shots at goal.

The Future Rocks are the Corringham club's youngest group and are made up of children aged from three to six years.

Head coach Faye Lambert said: "We wanted to take part in the Tom Moore 100 challenge and decided we would like to donate to make a difference to someone local. I discovered the charity 'Dottie's Journey' through one of our Under Seven parents, Becky Osbourne, who is also undergoing treatment herself for breast cancer and she introduced me to Dottie's mum Louise - who Is amazing.

"Dottie is currently four years old, just like a lot of our Future Rocks, and she is currently under treatment at Great Ormond Street Hospital with an inoperable brain tumour."

Louise takes up the story, saying: "After finding out the devastating news regarding Dottie being diagnosed with a brain tumour at a local hospital (Basildon) we were transferred straight away to Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH).

"My family got straight onto the internet and booked us into a local hotel which was two minutes from the hospital and cost a fortune and after two days we found out we will be spending a lot longer at the hospital than we originally expected.

"The nurses on the ward got in contact with the housing team at GOSH who managed to get us an amazing room at a beautiful house in Guildford Street literally two minutes from GOSH run by the Sick Children's Trust. And they put us in contact with Tina and Tracy who arranged to give us a room free which had bathroom facilities, share of a kitchen and also somewhere we could wash our clothes as we only took an overnight bag and everywhere in London was closed due to lockdown!

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"As parents we wanted to be by our daughter's bedside 24/7 but one of us took it in turns going to the beautiful house to try and get a good night's sleep. The house was more than just somewhere to sleep and Tina and Tracey were also amazing support for us and kept our strength up when enough got enough."

Faye added: "We will be taking 100 penalties between the FutureRocks and Dottie will be scoring one too. We have set up a fundraising page where parents, family and Rocks supporters can make a donation which will to the Guilford Street house."