A TEENAGER who ‘embraced life’ before cancer took it away was honoured at an annual toy run.

Clad in black leather garms and armed with gifts, motorbikers with ‘the biggest hearts’ put smiles on poorly children’s faces yesterday.

More than 150 riders from the Oxford Harley Chapter roared into the car park at Oxford Children’s Hospital, for an annual event named after Blackbird Leys schoolboy Jake Spicer.

The teenager is remembered every year at the Jake Spicer Toy Run, which was renamed in his memory after he lost his life to bone cancer in 2009.

It sees bikers ride in convoy from the Harley-Davidson dealership in Abingdon to drop off toys for young patients.

Jake’s mum Lesley Spicer said the event has become a ‘family tradition’ that helps to keep her son’s memory alive.

The 52-year-old said: “I only get to meet them [the bikers] once a year but they are truly amazing. They remember me and my son. It’s been emotional from day one [when Jake died] up until today.

“We’ve been going now for seven years. There is a perception about bikers but they are not scary hairy monsters - they have the biggest hearts.”

Jake was a motorbike fanatic who loved to join the bikers on their visits while he was a patient.

He forged friendships with members and earned the nickname Little Harley, while his friends knew him as OX4 Soldier in recognition of his hard-fought cancer battle.

Mrs Spicer said: “Jake was not just a person with cancer; he was a young boy with a big heart. He embraced life and he put everybody else first.

“Cancer is a sad thing and it affects the whole family. I went up on the ward yesterday and I know what they [the children] are going through. It’s heartbreaking.”

The supermarket worker was joined yesterday by Jake’s dad Michael Spicer as well as his 24-year-old brother Ryan and 12-year-old sister Maddison, who Mrs Spicer said ‘idolised’ her late brother.

This year the chapter, directed by Ian Davis, brought along specially-made pins bearing Jake’s name to sell in aid of the children’s hospital, raising £600.

Mr Davis said: “A lot of kids came out with parents [to see us], it was a real carnival atmosphere.”

He said they had more riders than he could ever remember, including from several other chapters.