When Oscar Fairs was 13, he was already a goalkeeper in West Ham’s academy and training five days a week. He had joined the club when he was nine and football was a huge part of his life. So when he suddenly ran upstairs at home in December 2022 and his heart started pounding out of his chest, his mum Natalie knew something was not right. She took him to the doctor. “I told the GP Oscar was a healthy athlete who trained five days a week and had never had any heart problems.” They were told it could be anxiety brought on by adolescence. A couple of months later, it happened again. Oscar was assessed again and this time his family were told it was likely mental health related. But as the months went on, things started happening that anxiety could not explain. In April, West Ham called Natalie because they were worried too. Oscar had been struggling in training and had burst into tears. When she asked him what was wrong, he told her his right hand and right leg were not doing what he wanted them to do. The club physio worked with him, but it kept getting worse. Eventually, Oscar was struggling to walk. By July, the headaches and sickness had started as well. On a family holiday he spent three days vomiting, so Natalie brought him home and took him straight to hospital. Oscar was in a wheelchair and could barely open his eyes. Still, they were initially told it was migraines and sent home. Natalie went back again. This time she was not leaving until somebody properly examined him. A doctor eventually noticed that the right side of Oscar’s face was not moving properly when he smiled. He was sent for an MRI. That was when they finally found a huge tumour on the left side of his brain, attached to the part controlling his movement. Oscar was transferred to Great Ormond Street Hospital. His first operation lasted hours and surgeons managed to remove almost all of the tumour. Three weeks later, his parents were taken into a private room and told it was a high-grade ependymoma. Oscar unfortunately had brain cancer. From there, the next year became operations, chemotherapy, radiotherapy and repeated complications. At one stage, the cancer had spread across the left side of his brain and doctors told his family there was nothing more they could do other than palliative care. Natalie was not ready to accept that. “I need everybody and everyone to get on board with me here to save my son’s life.” Oscar’s family began looking outside the UK and found a treatment trial in France. They needed to raise more than £100,000. West Ham players contributed thousands, David Sullivan donated £10,000 and former Hammer Declan Rice gave £5,000. Within days, the target had been reached. But after everything he had been through, his condition eventually deteriorated again. On the 13th of December 2024, West Ham announced that Oscar had sadly passed away. He was just 15 years old. For Mark Noble, Oscar was not simply one of the goalkeepers coming through West Ham’s academy. His son Lenny had been one of Oscar’s teammates. “I have wonderful memories of Oscar playing in my garden.” “Lenny and his teammates all loved him.” Noble remembered a friendly, polite young lad who had grown up supporting the same club he was now trying to make it with. “Oscar was a true Hammer and a fantastic young person.” West Ham postponed all of their academy matches that weekend. And when the club spoke about how they would remember him, Noble made one promise. “We will ensure that his name is never forgotten at West Ham United.” #football