THE heart-broken parents of a “stellar little boy” who lost his three-year battle with cancer have set up a new trust to help others in his name.

Ampney Crucis Primary pupil Timmy Mason was diagnosed with a rare tumour in his sinus when he was just four years old.

After three years of intensive treatments for cancer and miraculously overcoming a flesh eating disease, the little fighter, who was adored by everyone that met him, died in October last year.

To mark what would have been Timmy’s eighth birthday, parents Kate and Tim opened The Timmy Mason Trust this month to help other children with cancer.

The Cirencester couple said they would never stop missing their little boy, who was the youngest in the family with five older sisters.

“You met Timmy and you came out thinking, ‘what a soul’ – he changed everyone he met,” Tim said. “He was a huge light for us and he was never going to give up without a serious fight.”

Timmy was first diagnosed at Bristol Children’s Hospital with a tumour called rhabdomysarcoma, in June 2008, after suffering weeks of nosebleeds.

Over the next three years, he battled the disease with chemotherapy and radiation but it kept coming back.

In December 2010, Kate and Tim took Timmy to Amsterdam for a rare procedure called brachytherapy, which they hoped would cure him.

In over 40 hours of gruelling surgery over ten days, Timmy’s sinus, naval cavity and soft palate were removed to try to destroy the cancer.

Experts gave Timmy the all-clear but then came the news that the family had dreaded. The tumour was still there and had grown to the size of a fist, making Timmy’s eye bulge outwards, and was pushing onto his brain.

Tim said the relapses were the lowest points. “The first line is ‘it’s not good’,” he said, “and your heart drops out of your body because you know the cancer is back.”

In a final round of chemotherapy, things went from bad to worse when Timmy contracted a flesh eating disease, and his parents were told there was no chance of recovery.

Baffling doctors, little Timmy found the strength to overcome the disease but shortly after that his cancer returned for the last time and Kate and Tim brought him home to spend his final months surrounded by family and his beloved pets.

“Timmy bought me a pig called Gloria for my birthday,” Kate said. “He loved animals and he was always outside in his wellies. He wanted to run in the garden, but he would get too tired.”

She said his compassion for others even when he was at his most poorly was an inspiration.

“I still wake up thinking about Timmy every day,” she said, “I either wake up smiling, or crying.”

Despite not being well enough to go to school often, Timmy was a popular boy at Ampney Crucis Primary along with his nine-year-old sister Mahala, who is in year five. Staff and pupils at the school released hundreds of balloons in memory of him, all in his favourite colour of red.

Kate and Tim said they were overwhelmed by the support shown by the school and others who had provided financial and emotional help.

To continue their son’s fight against cancer, they have opened the Timmy Mason Trust, which they hope will help other children with cancer, by funding travel costs for treatments, a holiday haven and other special requests.

Kate and Tim’s first target is to raise £5,000 so they can register the non-profit trust as a charity, which will help them to raise even more funds for families in need.

To make a donation and for more information, visit timmystrust.org, email info@timmystrust.org or call 07887 459420.