AN AUCTION will be held this week to raise money for an Aberystwyth family after eight-year-old Rufus Palmer relapsed with Leukaemia last November.

An auction and raffle is being held on Friday, 25 March, to raise money for the Palmer family and allow Rufus’ parents to stay by his side as he recovers from a stem cell transplant.

Rufus relapsed with Leukaemia in November last year, after recovering only 18 months ago. Earlier this year, the hunt was on for a bone marrow donor match for Rufus. The Ysgol Plascrug pupil was finally able to undergo the transplant in February.

Now Jamie Frayne is coordinating an auction and raffle to raise money for the family.

Rosie Palmer, Rufus’ mum, said the family are “totally overwhelmed” by the “incredible support” from Jamie and others working on the event: “The community of Aberystwyth is just amazing, strangers have all come to our aid to help us through this difficult time and all of it has meant both me and Tom, Rufus’ dad, have been able to stay by Rufus’ side to see him through the transplant.

“Financial pressures due to not being able to return to work since November have all been taken care of and it’s honestly such a privilege to be able to leave those worries behind to concentrate on our family!

“We feel so lucky to be among such wonderful people and will be forever grateful.”

Jamie said the idea to hold an auction and raffle came about after he heard Rufus’ story through his daughter.

“My little girl was coming home from school with the news that Rufus had Leukaemia. I did an auction and raffle about six years ago for a friend of mine who had cancer, for the little boy TJ. So I thought, ‘how can I help Rufus and his family?’

“This one has really taken off. I’ve managed to get, by the time I list them all, about 20 auction items, from signed memorabilia and high value items, and then roughly 100 items to go in the raffle.

“A lot of the raffle items were originally going to be auction items, but because they had such high value, people phoned up to say ‘put them with the raffle items’.

“I’d like to say a big thank you to Luke Baker and Aberystwyth Round Table. I went to see Luke to see if he was willing to donate anything, he basically donated £1,000 personally. He then spoke to Aberystwyth Round Table and they donated £5,000. I believe it was the money from the Aberystwyth firework display that the they donated back into the community.

“And a big thank you to John Walsh of Mid Wales Scaffolding who approached me to get in touch with the family and who then helped them directly. Since then I have been overwhelmed with the donations.”

For more information on the event, you can search ‘Rufus’s auction and raffle fundraiser’ on Facebook.

While Jamie said only 30 of the 180 auction tickets are still available, people are still welcome to buy raffle tickets for £10. If you’re interested in buying a raffle ticket or one of the final auction tickets, you can contact Jamie on 07779964543.