Community unites to help seriously-ill Alex

Alexander Goodwin will have his right femur bone and both hip bones removed and replaced and his pelvis reconstructed in a radical operation by an international specialist in Kansas City.

The femur will be replaced by a prosthetic bone which is telescopic, and can “grow” with the aid of magnets.

An anonymous benefactor has added to a justgiving page campaign to cover the cost of Alex’s treatment in the USA,

His father Jeff Goodwin, who is a police officer based in Rugby, said: “Even then, Alex is unlikely to be able to walk without aids for the rest of his life.” Other possible outcomes include amputation.

At the moment, Alex is still having chemotherapy, travelling backwards and forwards between hospitals in Leicester and Birmingham and his family home in a village near Lutterworth, where he lives with dad Jeff, mum Maria, and his little sister Sophia (four). He is likely to be in hospital in America over Christmas.

Jeff said although Alex is very ill, he is still outgoing and upbeat.

“Alex is very gentle, very astute and very positive. He still appears to genuinely care about how other people are more than himself.”

In the meantime, friends, police colleagues and the public have rallied round in a remarkable way to help raise money for Alex’s long recuperation.

A song called ‘Horizon On My Mind’, written by police colleague Dave Jones, has been donated to the cause, and advance sales so far have been so great there is a real chance the song could make the UK top 20 when it is released today (Monday, December 5).

The song, reminiscent of Bon Jovi, “is about my journey, about this cancer” says Alex.

A video to go with the song partly filmed at Warwickshire Police HQ in Leek Wootton, south of Kenilworth, features hundreds of police officers, dogs and horses from some 36 UK police forces.

It also features police from Canada, America, Gibraltar, Bermuda and Australia.

“Alex’s plight really struck a chord with the police family” said Jeff.

You can pre-order ‘Horizon On My Mind’ for just 99p from Amazon and iTunes now. Or you can text HOMM to 85888.

Jeff said: “For every 99p spent, 70p will go directly to Alexander’s Journey, to fund the massive amount of rehabilitation he’s going to need after surgery.”

Alex was diagnosed with the rare Ewing Sarcoma form of cancer on June 6.

Jeff said: “We’re very private people, but we made the decision to go public with this, to help Alex and also to give him confidence.

“It gives him confidence to know that people feel happy to support him - and he’s very excited about the song.”

Alex is likely to leave Britain for the complex operations as soon as next week.