Jak Trueman wins Young Scot Award for fundraising

A TEENAGER who sparked a huge fundraising effort as he bravely battled cancer has won a top award.

Jak Trueman's story touched many hearts. Picture: comp

Jak Trueman was named the overall winner at the prestigious Young Scot Awards.

The 15-year-old, from Mid Calder, lost his battle to a rare and aggressive form of blood cancer known as gamma-delta T-cell ­lymphoma in February, after being diagnosed last August.

His friends and family rallied in his final days to help raise tens of thousands of pounds for charity.

In total, more than £100,000 has been collected for the Sick Kids Friends Foundation, Children In Need, CLIC Sargent and Lymphoma and Leukaemia Research.

There are also plans to build a cancer centre in Jak’s name to help others, to be known as Jak’s Den.

The award was collected on his behalf by his mother, ­Allison Barr, during a glittering ceremony at the Usher Hall.

She said: “I can’t describe what this means to me as Jak’s mum. It’s a massive honour and I’m so proud of him.

“We have a lot of hard work ahead of us to make Jak’s dreams a reality, but this reminds us it’s all worthwhile. I can just picture his massive smile now.”

Athletics star Lynsey Sharp was also honoured in the sports category after the 24-year-old from the Capital landed silver in the 800m at the Commonwealth Games.

Her mother Carol, who accepted the award for Lynsey, said: “I’m so proud to accept this award on behalf of Lynsey.

“She worked incredibly hard and came through an illness scare before the Commonwealth Games to win the silver medal in the 800m race. Hopefully her achievement will inspire other young people to work hard and achieve their dreams like Lynsey did.”

Another city teenager – 15-year-old Jamie McIntosh – picked up the health prize after writing a book in the wake of his mother’s death from cancer in November 2013.

The awards were hosted by Edith Bowman and attended by famous faces including 2015 X-Factor finalists Andrea Faustini and Only the Young.

They were joined on the red carpet by Commonwealth Games gold medallist Ross Murdoch and the cast from River City.

Louise Macdonald, chief executive of Young Scot, said: “This year’s milestone Young Scot Awards has been the biggest celebration of Scotland’s young people to date, which is testament to the incredible work young Scots have done over the past ten years in communities across Scotland.

“Congratulations to winners and finalists, as well as each and every nominee.”

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