Four-year-old Oldham Athletic fan lost cancer battle

Tommy Squibbs, of Rochdale, died yesterday morning (March 23) just six months after he was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia - an aggressive cancer of the blood and bone marrow.

In a post on social media, mum Charlotte Squibbs wrote: "Our special little boy Tommy passed away peacefully this morning with mummy and daddy laying next to him."

Tommy, who had Down syndrome, was the son of football coach Daniel Squibbs who has been running Dan’s Dribblers for the last 10 years.

Speaking to The Oldham Times in September, Daniel explained that he and his wife took Tommy to the GP after noticing he had a rash on his body and was bruising easily.

A nurse advised them to immediately take Tommy to A&E, where he was later diagnosed.

A GoFundMe page was subsequently set up by two mums who met through their sons attending Dan's Dribblers in a bid to financially support the Squibbs family following the diagnosis, with Daniel being self-employed.

The page created by Gemma Murphy and Jenny Dyer aimed to raise £5,000 but overwhelmingly received a staggering £12,120.

Dan with Tommy (centre), his two brothers Louie and Reggie, and mum Charlotte (Image: Dan Squibbs)

Daniel, who hails from Royton but now lives in Rochdale, previously told The Oldham Times that he and his family had been "blown away" by the support which he described as “overwhelming”.

Speaking about their journey on the GoFundMe page, Tommy's mum and dad wrote: "In late August 2023, we returned from a family holding in France with a lethargic Tommy, aged three.

"When on holiday we put it down to the heat but with a pin prick rash and then going off his food once we had returned we took him to the docs to get checked over.

"On September 4 we got the devastating news that Tommy had acute myeloid leukaemia.

"Tommy has Down Syndrome so although it is very worrying we were told the prognosis tends to be good with 90 per cent of people with Down syndrome being cured after chemo.

"We moved into Manchester Children’s Hospital and our journey of chemo began.

"The first round went well, not as well as they’d hoped but had reduced cancer cells from 62 per cent to 0.9 per cent so we believed he was in remission and were on the right path.

"After round two, however, his cells went up to five per cent and after round three his cancer cells were at 72 per cent.

"At this point we were given the news it was highly likely to be his last Christmas and that anything from this point would be prolonging life, not curing.

"As a family we were utterly devastated and we had to tell our two older sons Louie, 10, and Reggie, seven, that their brother was very likely to die.

"Words we never thought or wanted to come out of our mouths."