​A MOTHER has paid tribute to her young son after he died of a rare form of cancer and said she now wants to raise money to help other sick children.

David Phillimore, aged eight, lost his fight with the disease after months of painful surgery.

The brave youngster, from Yeo Close, Efford, died after an eight month battle against osteosarcoma, which is diagnosed in about 30 youngsters each year.

Now mum Debbie Gregory has spoken of her desire to help other sick children. She is launching a fundraising drive in David’s honour to collect cash for televisions and DVD players for a children’s ward at Derriford Hospital.

“David was lovely, I can’t put it into words,” she said.

“He was very grown up for his age, polite and just lovely.”

David, a former pupil at Laira Green Primary School, was diagnosed with the condition back in March after his right leg started to mysteriously lock in a bent position.

He endured a whirlwind of operations and chemotherapy at Derriford Hospital and in hospitals in Birmingham and Bristol.

Surgeons had removed a tumour the size of a tennis ball from his knee and replaced most of the bone in his right leg with metal rods.

But the cancer came back and his family was given only a few weeks to say goodbye to David before he died on October 29.

“I really miss him,” said Debbie, speaking for the first time since David’s death.

“At night when you’re trying to get to sleep and your mind is doing overtime, you are

just trying to absorb what’s happened then it hits you.

“I go to sleep crying.”

She added that the family was told around a month before his death that there was nothing more doctors could do for David.

“We did a lot of our grieving in that first week (after being given the news),” she said.

“He did not suffer, that was my biggest worry. It was too quick for him to suffer.

“We had loads of support from friends and family and more than 100 sympathy cards which were all stuck to the wall.”

She said that she drew strength from the need to provide as normal a life as possible for David’s brother Matthew, who is three.

Debbie added: “My only consolation is that I have Matthew. He has to be my focus now.

If Matthew was not here then things might be different. I would be more of a mess. A lot of people expect me to have broken down by now.”

Her partner and David’s stepdad Gary James said: “Matthew thinks he is with angels, he is  still too young to understand. He still thinks he will come walking through the door.”

David managed to smile through the pain with a send-off which included a visit to the Williams team Formula 1 base in Oxford, organised  by the Starlight Make A Wish Foundation and a hospital visit from a Star Wars Stormtrooper.

Impersonator Ian Sims and colleagues dressed as Darth Vader and a Star Wars Biker Scout even accompanied David’s coffin at a packed St Paul’s Church for his funeral.

Now Debbie, backed by friends, family and the wider community in Efford and Laira, wants to raise money to help other hospitalised children.

They have already collected cash for children’s cancer charity CLIC in recognition for the support received from nurses Tanya Crago and Petra Russell.

She now wants to raise cash for televisions and DVD players for young patients on Derriford’s Woodcock Ward.

Debbie said that David, a great fan of Star Wars and Star Trek,  drew comfort from having a television by his bedside.

Children have free access to bedside sets through the Patientline service but she said that more televisions are needed.

Debbie, whose family has already raised about £500, is determined to stage some sort of personal challenge to raise cash but is still looking for ideas.

The Co-op and Quality Fayre Bakers in Torridge Way have collecting tins in their shops.

Anyone who can help Debbie with her fundraising drive is asked to call 07912 615180.