ONE of Skye Hall’s dying wishes came true yesterday as he said a big ‘thank you’ to the people of Oxfordshire who stepped forward to help him.

The five-year-old has been battling a brain tumour for the last year, and one of his bucket list’s final items was to take part in a prank inspired by an online video.

After their appeal for help appeared on the front page of the Oxford Mail, the Abingdon family were inundated with offers of help.

Speaking yesterday as his wish came true, brave little Skye said: “Thank you everybody for helping me.”

Mum Sally, 36, said: “It’s completely amazing how this has taken off and how many people want to help Skye.”

People were queuing up to get involved in his special day at Millets Farm – and the joke saw unsuspecting visitors get a surprise.

Thinking they were buying ice cream from a self-serve machine, they held a cone under a dispenser.

But instead of ice cream squirting out, Skye and Mrs Hall opened a secret door and plonked a scoop on the shocked customer’s cone – followed by a liberal coating of multicoloured sprinkles.

Mrs Hall said: “It’s just about making sure that every day of his life is happy and makes him have fun.“ She added: “I’d do anything for my children, and if that means throwing sprinkles at people from a box then so be it.”

The box was built by Wantage carpenter Jamie Franklin, who helped make Skye’s dream come true after his wife, Tasha, read the Oxford Mail’s appeal.

She said: “It touched my heart, I have three children myself – Harrysson, 17, Lydia, 15, and Mackenzie, 10.”

The primary school teacher said: “I think when you read about the family and what they have been through, and what is inevitably going to happen, you have to help.

“There are so many charities where you can’t help, and there’s nothing you can do, but in this situation we could.”

Mr Franklin, 42, said: “After I measured Skye and talked to them about what was needed, I took the materials to my dad’s garage and spent a few hours on it around work over the weekend.”

His box was then transformed into an ice cream machine by artist Gabriel Drewett, 19.

Gabriel said: “I used to go to Abingdon School, where Skye’s dad taught me maths and PE, and I’m the artist in residence there now.

“It took me four days to paint, but it was definitely worth it. Skye came out to see how it was getting on and he’d give me pointers on what he wanted it to look like. It was brilliant.”

 

  • Do you want alerts delivered straight to your phone via our WhatsApp service? Text NEWS or SPORT or NEWS AND SPORT, depending on which services you want, and your full name to 07767 417704. Save our number into your phone’s contacts as Oxford Mail WhatsApp and ensure you have WhatsApp installed
  • Our top stories