Little Freddie Martin-Pocock is allowed the type of food most five-year-olds dream of: everything he eats is either fried or junk food.

He is putting on weight quickly, and his mum spends a lot of money on him, but it is for a special reason.

Freddie, who has Down's syndrome, has just been diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia.

The Halstead schoolboy needs to build himself up between chemo sessions, because he loses weight when he is in hospital.

Although he doesn't walk or talk, he is taking his chemotherapy like "a little star", and willingly offers his arm, or lifts his T-shirt for the doctors who test his blood and give him lumbar punctures, when doctors collect fluid from the spine.

Every Monday, Tuesday and alternate Wednesdays are spent in either Addenbrookes or Colchester General Hospital, and he has medicine daily at his Colchester Road home.

One of the hardest things has been the financial burden of having to drive to Cambridge and Colchester weekly, and pay for parking, food and other things which Freddie and his mum need.

But she may be able to get help from Taps, the Halstead charity, which gives travel aid for parents of sick children.

In the meantime Miss Martin is just happy Freddie is getting back to his old ways, stealing crisps from the kitchen cupboard, like any other cheeky five-year-old.