Think before posting about Bradley Lowery

The mother of terminally-ill football mascot Bradley Lowery has asked people to stop contacting her on social media to see if he has died.

The six-year-old Sunderland fan has the rare childhood cancer neuroblastoma and his winning smile, despite his ordeal, has touched the world of football, and beyond.

His family, from Blackhall, County Durham, have used social media to regularly update his many thousands of well-wishers around the world about his condition.

His mother Gemma wrote on the Facebook page Bradley Lowery's fight against Neuroblastoma that she could not respond to the many messages she receives asking how he is doing.

She also said she will not respond to messages recommending alternative therapies, such as cannabis oil.

She wrote: As a parent I've done and tried everything I can to cure Bradley but unfortunately nothing has worked.''

And Mrs Lowery has been forced to ask people to stop speculating about his death.

She wrote: Also I really don't like to read messages saying that you think my child is going to die within the next week, asking if he has died yet, or asking if I know when he is going to die so please think of how I feel when reading that sort of thing before sending a message.''

Bradley was a mascot for Sunderland several times last season and struck up a remarkable friendship with top scorer Jermain Defoe.

Bradley was a mascot for England at Wembley when his mate scored in a World Cup Qualifier against Lithuania in his comeback game.