OXFORD United’s players are showing their support for a charity aiming to raise £100,000 for Oxford Children’s Hospital.

The squad all wore Thinking of Oscar wristbands on the opening day of their training camp in Austria yesterday.

They hope to help raise awareness of the charity, which was set up by David and Hannah Cole after their one-year-old son Oscar died in June last year.

The story moved club captain Jake Wright, who as a child nearly lost his own life to the same illness Oscar had.

Wright, of Kirtlington, the same village as the Coles, had an infection called Osteomyelitis as an eight-year-old.

One-year-old Oscar initially had the same infection before it travelled to his brain.

The 29-year-old said: “I only met the family a few weeks ago.

“I had heard things in the village when it was the anniversary of Oscar dying.

“When I spoke to them I was really touched by it. Their baby died and instead of not getting on with their lives, they decided to do something in his name.

“I just think they’re amazing and as soon as I heard about it I wanted to get involved.

“I spoke to the lads and straight away they wanted to do what they could.”

Describing his own battle with the illness, the defender and father-of-two said: “I was in a really bad way and was close to passing away, but I came through it.

“I had it in my thigh but Oscar had it in his spine and it travelled to his brain and became Encephalitis, which is a swelling of the brain.

“Having children myself, I don’t know how it would affect me, but I can’t even think about it.

“It’s a really sad scenario and they’re doing amazing things out of it.”

The campaign is already well on the way to their fundraising target, which is buying vein-finding technology for the children’s hospital, and has already provided lots of books and toys.

The player said the team would be spreading the charity’s message to help them achieve their £100,000 target.

He said: “They all have the bands on and will be putting the message out on social media, because they have a big reach.

“The aim is to try and get as many people looking at it as possible to help an incredible family.

“It’s just really doing what we can to help lots of people see it and maybe donate or try to help out in some way.”