THOUSANDS of pounds were raised in memory of a brave boy who fought a brain tumour at an "incredible" firewalk event held at The Racecourse ground. 

Aaron Wharton, from Buckley, sadly died last month aged just seven - having courageously battled a rare and aggressive brain tumour for three years. 

His parents, Nicola and Lee, paid a touching tribute and promised they will do “everything we can” to raise awareness of the disease that cruelly seized their only child.

At the weekend, a firewalk event was held at The Racecourse - the home of Wrexham AFC (where Aaron was once a mascot). 

Nicola, along with around 40 others, walked barefoot across the hot embers to raise money for the Brain Tumour Research charity - with hundreds of people attending to show their support. Among them was Wrexham AFC club captain, Luke Young, who walked out onto the pitch with Aaron when he was mascot. 

The Leader: Nicola Wharton at the event. Nicola Wharton at the event. (Image: User generated content)

Incredibly, over £17,000 has been raised on the back of the event. If a further £1,600 is raised, that would equate to seven days of funded research at one of the Brain Tumour Research Centres of Excellence. That achievement would be officially recognised by the charity, as a plaque in Aaron's name for each funded day would be placed on the charity's Wall of Hope in one of its research centres.

A fundraising page is still live, and can be donated to via https://bit.ly/41Z2S3f.

Nicola said: "It was such an emotional event. To see the amount of people that had come to show support for Aaron was just breathtaking.

"You could see the amount of lives he had touched. But also completing the challenge was such an incredibly proud moment too. Being at a place that meant so much to Aaron, and us, felt like he was with us on the night, too."

Wrexham AFC's star co-chairman, Ryan Reynolds, sent a video message of support prior to the event. 

Nicola said: "It was just incredible to see Ryan supporting us. To know that he was supporting and echoing our message of awareness just meant the world to us as a family. And hopefully, by spreading his message of support will continue to spread our message of awareness, too."

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Nicola added: "We just want to extend our thanks to everybody; family, friends, the local community, Wrexham AFC, in particular Luke and Chloe Young and Ryan Reynolds, for their unwavering support shown for Aaron. 

"We are increasing the need for awareness around the lack of funding there is for Brain Tumours. And the hope, that what we have raised will go some way to one day maybe finding a cure so that no other family has to face the darkness of losing a loved one that we have had to experience."