THOUSANDS of pounds have been raised at a charity evening marking the two-year anniversary of the death of a two-year-old who was diagnosed with cancer.

Family and friends of the Peek family came together for the event, which was held at the end of last month.

Dax Peek was diagnosed with a rhabdomyosarcoma – an aggressive children’s cancer – and underwent gruelling treatment before passing away on August 31 two years ago.

The youngster, of Dunbar, had only shown the first signs of illness during a family holiday to Disneyland Paris that February.

The special fundraiser in aid of Children with Cancer UK, at Hallhill Sports Centre, was declared a success by Dax’s mum Devon.

She said: “The charity night at Hallhill was so important to us.

“We wanted to honour the two-year anniversary of Dax’s passing, as well as raise much-needed funds for childhood cancer research.

“The night was a huge success and we are so delighted to have been able to raise over £7,000 for Children with Cancer UK.

“We can’t thank everyone enough for their generosity: without them, we would never have been able to raise such an amazing amount.

“We’ve requested the money be put towards Children with Cancer UK sarcoma treatment research, whose aim is to ‘find new targets to fight the second-highest cause of death in children with cancer’, run by Prof. Sibylle Mittnacht.”

Currently, childhood cancer only receives two per cent of Government cancer funding.

Devon, along with husband Jonny, had been busy planning the event, which featured a raffle and auction.

Members of the community had got behind the family, who live on the town’s Salisbury Walk, when Dax was diagnosed and raised more than £45,000 to help the family as they looked to fly out to San Diego for treatment.

Devon thanked members of the public for once again supporting them to raise the much-needed funds.

She said: “Many people have followed our story or knew Dax so we received an overwhelming amount of local support not only from family and friends but from local businesses too: from Hallhill hosting our event to many businesses offering prizes for our raffle and auction, it’s been wonderful and so appreciated.

“We were so pleased to hear that Hallhill has chosen to support the charity Children with Cancer UK as their chosen charity this year.

“Childhood cancer doesn’t receive the same attention and funding as other cancers, so to be able to shine a light on such an important cause and then have others support them too feels very emotional for us.

“We’re very thankful to Hallhill for choosing to support them this year.”

Issy O’Riordan, community fundraising officer at Children with Cancer UK, thanked everyone for their fundraising efforts.

She said “We are incredibly grateful to Jonny and Devon Peek for raising over £7,000 with their fundraising evening.

“It’s been a real privilege to work alongside them in memory of Dax and they have created such an important legacy for their son.

“Hallhill has shown wonderful community spirit as they come together for a local family and their support will help Children with Cancer UK fund research to find safer, kinder and more effective treatments, as well as support families when they need it most.”

Go to childrenwithcancer.org.uk for more information.