A SOLDIER from Worcester is planning to do the equivalent of seven marathons in seven days to help sick schoolboy Oscar Saxelby-Lee.

Oscar, aged five, has a rare form of leukaemia and is in a race against time to raise money for life-saving treatment following an unsuccessful stem cell transplant.

An appeal to fund the treatment, not available on the NHS, stands at more than £155,000 in less than a week. But his family says they have four weeks to reach the £500,000 total.

Now Sergeant Major Mark Wall of the 214 (Worcestershire) Battery the Royal Artillery, will be covering 42km a day - equivalent to a marathon - for seven consecutive days, starting on Monday, September 23, around a park next to Oscar's school.

He said: “I am a parent of a child at Pitmaston Primary School, the same school Oscar goes to.

“I’ll be doing the marathons at Pitmaston Park, next to the school, between 9am and 3pm each day, and the children, parents, the local community and staff at Pitmaston Primary School are actively encouraged to support or join in with the run on the park to encourage me to complete this ambitious target.”

He plans to complete the distance each day with a combination of running, rowing, cycling and skiing.

He said: “We’ll have two gazebos set up to shelter the equipment in case the weather is not so good.

“I need you to dig deep into your pockets and sponsor what ever you can, no matter how small. We don’t have the luxury of time on our side.”

He hopes to raise £10,000, and contributions can made by visiting uk.virginmoneygiving.com/ and searching for 7 Marathons in 7 days for Oscar.

Oscar has T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia which he has been battling for nine months.

Unfortunately, Oscar’s recent stem cell transplant hasn’t cured him, meaning he needs further treatment which the NHS cannot fund.

Oscar’s parents are pleading for help across the globe to save their child in raising £500,000 to either fund a second transplant or enrol onto CAR-T Therapy in Singapore.

All fundraising is through the Grace Kelly Childhood Cancer Trust, which is supporting the family. Any funds not used to help Oscar with his treatment will be donated to the trust with the aim of funding research on Oscar’s type of cancer.