Community's anger after FAKE fundraising page set up in name of courageous South Shields teenager Drew Broderick

Drew Broderick, 14, sadly died on Tuesday, December 3, after a three-year-fight with leukaemia.

Diagnosed at the aged just 10, the youngster from Harton, in South Shields, embarked on years of treatment which finished in January this year.

But just a matter of months later, in April, Drew was given the devastating news that he had relapsed.

A Year 10 pupil at St Wilfrid’s R.C. College in South Shields, the school announced the sad news on their Facebook page, which was met with hundreds of tributes to the much-loved teen.

But just days later the the school announced on their Facebook that a fake fundraising page had been set up in the name of their former pupil on the GoGetFunding website.

In the post the school warned people that the fake campaign had been set up and no donations should be made there.

St Wilfrid's R.C College said: “We have been made aware of a fake fundraising page having been set up to raise funds for Drew Broderick's family.

“Please do not donate to this page.”

And the news has been met with outrage from members of the community online.

One person said: “Absolutely shocking the family have enough to deal with their grief shame on those people trying to do this at such a sad time.”

Another said: “How low can people get these days? Absolutely disgusting.”

GoGetFunding have confirmed that the fake fundraising page has since been removed from the site.

A spokeswoman for GoGetFunding said: “I can confirm a campaign was created under that title and was deleted by one of my colleagues almost immediately.

“We have a number of measures in place to try to minimise such campaigns appearing on our site, but it is difficult to identify all fake campaigns.

“We are incredibly grateful for the immense support we get from our crowdfunding community and also the families and friends who are extremely vigilant and will notify us often within hours of a fake campaign appearing and in almost all cases before any donations have been made.

“If donations have been made, we provide the guidance and support needed to ensure the donors are able to retrieve any donations that have been made via the various payment processors we use.”

GoFundMe has confirmed the page was not on its platform as had been wrongly reported on social media.

The organisation said it’s website is one of the safest ways to donate online and added: “Donors should know GoFundMe is fully backed by a guarantee - which means in the incredibly rare case misuse does happen we will refund you.”

Throughout his cancer fight Drew was known for his positive attitude and dedication to helping others despite everything he was dealing with.

He raised funds for local charities such as Alex’s Angels Foundation, The Charlie Cookson Foundation and Caring For Kian.

In September this year Drew’s bravery was recognised when he won a Best of South Tyneside Child of Courage Award.