A brave mum will take on the London Marathon for her three-year-old son who is battling leukaemia.

Mum-of-two Laura Roberts, of Rayne Road, Braintree, is raising money for Kids With Cancer by tackling the gruelling challenge on April 26 on behalf of her son Oscar, who was diagnosed with acute lymphobalastic leukaemia in September.

The 34-year-old, who is a full-time carer for Oscar, initially thought he had growing pains when she noticed that he was often complaining that his legs and stomach were hurting.

Never did she imagine the diagnosis would be cancer.

She said: “He kept saying that he had a bad belly and I did notice that it stuck out a lot but it never clicked.

“Towards the end of last year, I did a Spartan race and he cried all the way back to the car, saying that his legs were hurting. I thought he was trying it on.

“But I took him to the doctors because he had a really high temperature and they said he had an enlarged liver and spleen.

“He had some blood tests and they confirmed it was leukaemia at Great Ormond Street."

See this week's Braintree and Witham Times for the full story.