Bradley Lowery's family reveal that terminally-ill Sunderland fan is 'deteriorating fast'

The family of terminally ill football fan Bradley Lowery have revealed that the youngster’s condition is ‘deteriorating fast’.

The Sunderland fan, six, is bravely battling neuroblastoma, a rare form of childhood cancer.

He captured the hearts of the nation after he became firm friends with striker Jermain Defoe – as well as leading the national team out at Wembley.

Now, an update from his family has revealed that Bradley’s health is continuing to decline.

‘Bradley is deteriorating fast, his temperature is going very high his breathing very fast his oxygen levels low’, a statement on Facebook revealed.

‘He is sleeping most of the time apart from odd times awake. We knew this was coming but we are heart broken beyond words. We have been told he could be like this for days it just depends on him and his body.’

His mother, Gemma, also shared a photo of Bradley being cuddled by his older brother – captioning it ‘My World’.

She also revealed that she has been bombarded with Facebook messages from people speculating about the youngster’s death.

‘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’, she wrote.

MORE: Bradley Lowery has ‘new lumps and bumps’ and condition is deteriorating, mum says

Bradley’s classmates at Blackhall Colliery School, County Durham, have also recorded a rendition of Nat King Cole’s Smile to raise money for cancer charities – with the song currently shooting up the iTunes charts.