A six-year-old Grayshott Primary School pupil is taking on a 15 mile paddleboard in one day to raise funds for research into children’s cancers. 

It will take Dexter Rees approximately nine hours to complete the task on August 18. 

Dexter’s mum Daisy couldn’t be prouder. She said: “Dexter is absolutely incredible. He has a heart of gold. I would never have done something like this when I was six. But dexter believes every kid deserves to have the life he has.” 

The 15 mile paddleboard is in aid of MTV star and former professional footballer Ashley Cain’s charity, the Azaylia Foundation.

The charity was established in 2021 after the death of Ashley and his former partner Safiyya’s daughter Azaylia, aged eight months old, from an aggressive form of myeloid leukaemia.

The Azaylia Foundation sates that cancer is the number one killer of children in the UK. But childhood cancer receives less than three per cent of cancer funding because institutionally, it is still considered to be rare. It believes children are worth more than three per cent.

His upcoming paddleboard is not Dexter’s first charity challenge. He previously walked a mile aged one for Save the Children, and raised money for Send a Cow with a cake sale aged three. He also went on a 5km cycle ride dressed as Santa for MIND, aged four. And last year, at just five-years-old, he completed a triathlon with Ashley Cain, swimming 20 lengths, walking five miles and cycling ten miles for the Azaylia Foundation. 

Dexter said he wants to fundraise for the Azaylia Foundation forever, feeling very strongly about making sure other children have the same opportunities that he has.

His father, Jamie, will be accompanying Dexter for the full 15 miles. Jamie’s workplace has pledged to match whatever amount Dexter raises. To donate click here.