A BISHOP’S Waltham mum who lost her “happy and loving” young son to cancer is fundraising for a memorial bench to commemorate his short life.

Sam Hamblen passed away earlier this year aged three after fighting stage 4 cancer.

Now, his mum Karen hopes to raise £900 for ‘Sam’s Seat’, along with a plaque, to be placed on Battery Hill in his favourite spot for looking out for tractors.

Sam was diagnosed with high risk neuroblastoma on August 7 2015 at only 16 months old.

He underwent numerous rounds of chemotherapy, blood and platelet transfusions, scans, treatment for infections, along with a number of operations.

But at the beginning of 2017 he began to deteriorate and in March scans showed his tumours had grown and the cancer was back in his bone marrow again- giving him weeks to live.

Sam made it to his third birthday on April 9, and passed away on April 19.

His Justgiving page has so far raised around £300 of its target.

His mum Karen said: “Sam was always a very gentle, kind hearted, fun loving, cheeky chappie.

“Although there were times that Sam was extremely poorly, he was such a happy, loving little boy who had a passion for Tractors.

“One of Sam’s great pleasures in life was Tractor and NeeNah spotting. He loved spending time at the end of our road looking out for them, getting very excited every time he saw one.

“His other great passions were trains and football, he and I used to adore going to Little Kickers together on Saturday mornings when he was well enough.

“It would mean so much to all of us to be able to sit on Sam’s bench. We would be forever grateful if this were possible.”

Sam’s family and friends have already raised thousands of pounds in his memory with several challenges this year, with plans for sponsored runs and the London Marathon in the new year.

“Sam’s funeral tribute page was for Neuroblastoma UK and raised £2,122. A team of 24 of us - team name ‘Keep Sam Shining’ - completed the Shine half marathon walk for Cancer Research UK in September and raised about £10,000,” said Karen.

“We also had the ‘Let’s Keep Sam Shining’ event and raised £702 for Neuroblastoma UK, £450 for CLIC Sargent and £450 for The Rainbow Trust Children’s Charity.”