The family of a boy who lost a battle against cancer have raised £200,000 to make sure his name lives on through the Oxford Children's Hospital Campaign.

Kamran Jabble: "So brave"

Kamran Jabble was four when he died just one month after being diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia.

His parents Kalvinder, 34, and Kiran, 32, are now striving to raise £1m by 2007 to fund the new paediatric hospital's cancer ward and name it after their son. They will hand over the first fifth of their pledge next month.

Mr Jabble said: "The reason for us doing this for the hospital is that while he was on the children's ward at Oxford's John Radcliffe Hospital we could see the children's hospital being built and he even asked whether Bob the Builder worked there.

"His treatment was due to take three years, and in his third year he would have been at the children's hospital, so we want his name to live on through its oncology ward.

"The staff at the JR are wonderful. They have to deal with stuff like this all the time, and it is just as devastating for them to lose a child as it is for the parents." Doctors at Wexham Park Hospital in Slough, discovered Kamran had the blood cancer in July 2004 and he was admitted to the JR for specialist chemotherapy care. He died the following month after suffering a rare reaction to the treatment.

Mr Jabble said: "It was just one of those things. He died of septic shock.

"He was diagnosed on July 7 and we were told that the first 60 days of treatment were the most crucial. But on the 35th day he died in my wife's arms.

"One day we were all fine and the next he felt slightly groggy.

"He was getting very lethargic and bruises had started appearing now and then on his arms and legs, so we took him for a blood test and by the evening he was in hospital.

"It's not very nice going through what he went through and having drugs pumped into you. He was constantly on a saline drip and what he hated most was the needles. But over all he was just so brave."

The family, who live in Datchet, Berkshire, will donate the first £200,000 to the Children's Hospital Campaign at a charity dinner and dance on Saturday, February 4. It has been raised with help and donations from friends and family, including £11,500 from Kamran's primary school, £8,000 from a sponsored walk, and £3,500 from a sponsored kickathon at his eight-year-old brother Arran's karate club. Mr Jabble, who runs a family-owned drinks supply and cash-and-carry business, said: "It is our dream for our son's name to live on.

"Kamran was a brave little boy with a bright future ahead of him."

The 106-bed Oxford Children's Hospital will cost £20m to build, including £15m of donated and charitable funds.

When it is opened early next year it will treat 47,000 outpatients and 14,000 inpatients every year.

Anyone who would like to go to the Kamran Jabble Leukaemia Fund Charity Dinner and Dance, which is being held in Slough, should contact 0208 8936000.