Inspirational Alfie wins BBC’s regional Young Reporter Award
Alfie Rixon, a patient at our Children’s Hospital, has won the BBC’s Young Reporter competition in the Midlands after documenting his experience with osteosarcoma and learning to walk again following the amputation of the lower part of his leg.
The 14-year-old from Wem in Shropshire, was diagnosed with osteosarcoma in July 2018 after experiencing difficulty walking on his ankle.
What Alfie and his family initially thought to be a sprained ankle, turned out to be osteosarcoma following an X-Ray and biopsy. Alfie soon started chemotherapy treatment, before his leg was amputated in November 2018.
Last March, when lockdown restrictions were first put in place in England due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Alfie was still reliant on a wheelchair and he had to start learning to walk again at home.
Alfie, known as Alf to friends and family, said: “I was inspired to enter the competition after my grandma sent my dad an email about it. I wrote down and recorded my story about treatment, my rehabilitation through lockdown and how I now want to find out about other young people’s experiences with cancer during the pandemic too.
“I want to spread inspiration and show other people that we can do anything if we put our minds to it.”
Alfie, who is currently working on his next report for the BBC, is also spending his time doing fundraising walks with family and hopes to inspire the UK to start doing Terry Fox Run’s, an annual non-competitive Canadian fundraising event named after cancer activist Terry Fox, to raise money for cancer research.
Proud Dad Dan spoke of his son’s achievement saying: “It’s been really emotional for me listening to him on the radio, it’s been a really wonderful feeling and lots of happy tears.
“I feel that Alf really deserves to be in the limelight. What he has achieved so far has been amazing and he has worked really hard to get to where he is now. It’s totally deserved, really warranted and I’m extremely proud.”