A BRAVE youngster who is battling a brain tumour will join his family when they take on a ten kilometre walk to raise cash for charity.

Seven-year-old James Copping was diagnosed with a tumour in September 2014 at the age of three and underwent a four-hour operation six days after the tumour was found. Today, September 24, marks four years since the diagnosis.

Natalie Copping, James' mother, said: "We'd noticed some changes in him before the diagnosis, he seemed quite angry and he was having horrendous headaches where he'd just end up screaming.

"We took him to the GP and were told to take him back if they carried on or got worse. So he went to pre-school and they said he was having problems with his balance.

"After that we went back to the GP and she said she couldn't tell if anything was wrong, but she referred us to the hospital and said we'd have to wait eight or nine weeks but we got a call to take him to hospital five days later."

The Kelvedon youngster spent around a month in Addenbrooke's Hospital where he had a tumour at the back of his brain removed.

Sadly, the tumour began to regrow following the operation and the family now make six-monthly trips to Alder Hey Children's Hospital, in Liverpool, for MRI scans to monitor the tumour.

Mrs Copping said: "They have a great success rate for James' tumour so if he did require more surgery they are confident of getting it all and it not reoccurring.

"It's been very hard, my husband and I have three other children so we had to split our time when he was in Addenbrooke's because obviously it's not just down the road.

"He's doing well at the moment, he's happy and he's coping, he had issues with eating but he's been fed through a tube since it was fitted in June 2015 which has helped."

Since James' diagnosis the family have managed to raise in the region of £3,000 for the Brain Tumour Charity through various fundraising ventures.

Next month, Natalie will be joined by her husband and James' father, Jonathan, as well as James and his siblings Holly, Matthew and Samuel as they take on the charity's Twilight Walk for the third time.

Mrs Copping said: "The charity have just been so supportive of us. They don't receive any government funding but the help they give families is incredible.

"Having experienced their work we know how far any kind of donation will go to help them help people."

The family will take part in the walk in Windsor on Sunday, October 14. Visit www.justgiving.com/fundraising/natalie-copping1.