THE mother of a four-year-old Ayrshire boy battling cancer has said she is simply "overwhelmed" by the support her son has recieved so far.

It comes as the fundraiser to get Troon boy Calum Rae to New York for potentially life-saving treatment has passed the halfway stage.

Aged just four, Calum's life has been turned upside down by a recent tumour diagnosis.

After initially catching chickenpox, the four-year-old's rash did not seem to be clearing up.

And after a number of tests and hospital trips, it was discovered that he had stage M high-risk neuroblastoma - a rare and aggressive cancer with a high risk of return and consequently a poor survival rate.

His parents Victoria MacDonald, a teacher at West Kilbride Primary School, and Andrew Rae are holding onto hope - thanks to a new vaccination is in trial at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Centre in New York.

The vaccine trains the immune system to identify and destroy neuroblastoma cells. It can reduce the chance of relapse and increase the chance of survival.

His parents are looking to raise £250,000 to get their "little Rae of sunshine" to the States this potentially life-saving vaccination which is currently undergoing trials.

When we first spoke to Victoria in late April, fundraising efforts were just kicking off and Calum's JustGiving page - which can be found at tinyurl.com/CalumRae - had raised just over £15,000.

Now, the main page itself has accumulated nearly £140,000 of donations - with other individual pages arranged by generous fundraisers still to be added.

The support has simply blown his mother Victoria away, as she told us of how "incredibly thankful she and Andrew are.

She said: “We are just totally overwhelmed with all the support.

"At first we thought this would be so difficult and were panicked it would take precious time away from Calum to organise fundraising.

"The community has just stepped in and taken over for us so we can have this time with Calum. It’s just astonishing to see everyone coming together.

"It is actually such a wonderful thing to see how we as people can come together to help another person in need."

Support has been offered from a wealth of local people, business and groups Calum and has family have become associated with - such as Victoria's employers, Calum's nursery and his play group Wiggle and Giggle in Kilwinning.

And Victoria said this fantastic outpouring of support has helped guide the family stop their minds from "wandering to the worst".

She added: "We are so just incredibly thankful to everyone who has helped us.

"We are trying to be as positive as we can and this is helping us to focus on the positives rather than letting our mind wander to the worst.

"Personally at night when Calum is sleeping is when it can be difficult to hold it togrether but replying to messages on Calums Facebook page and reading through the comments and different events keeps me busy and keeps me from spiralling into negative thoughts.

"We are just so grateful to everyone and feel so incredibly lucky to everyone helping us.”

For anyone looking to get involved in fundraising events planned for Calum, these can be found on his Facebook page - Calum, our Rae of Sunshine.

Donate and find out more at tinyurl.com/CalumRae.