An inspirational fundraising teenager has helped to improve the facilities at the Royal Oldham Hospital's A&E department despite battling his own health struggles.

Ibrahim Yousaf, known most fondly as Ibby, has refused gifts and money for his birthday and other occasions since he was aged just 12.

In the past six years, the youngster has donated presents and his time to fundraise for 20 charities in Oldham through his various "Team Ibby" challenges.

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Ibby at the age of 12 when he made his first donation to Royal Manchester Children's Hospital Ibby at the age of 12 when he made his first donation to Royal Manchester Children's Hospital (Image: Team Ibby) At the age of 13, he received a British Empire Medal (BEM) from the late Queen Elizabeth II, where he was the youngest person from Greater Manchester to make it to the list, and has since accumulated many more awards locally and nationally, including the British Citizen Youth Award in 2019 and a Lifetime Hack (Hathershaw Acts of Charity and Kindness) Award from Hathershaw College.

Last year, the Team Ibby captain revealed the group raised £11,500 for various charities.

This year, having turned 18 on January 9, the teenager announced he had only one 18th birthday wish- to raise £1,818 for Maggie's, which supports families and children suffering from cancer, and Spoons, which supports families of sick and preterm babies. 

Ibby with his British Empire Medal Ibby with his British Empire Medal (Image: Team Ibby) The teenager said he has spent "most of my life in and out of hospital" and felt "so blessed to still be here".

The wish came as part of his overall annual fundraising target, set to £10,000.

To this end, the England Cricket Board (ECB) gifted Ibby a picture of the 2019 ICC England Cricket World Cup squad, signed by every player, and a bat signed by the England 2017 team against West Indies, including stars such as Joe Root, Stuart Broad, Jimmy Anderson, Alastair Cook, Ben Stokes, Moeen Ali and Johnathan Bairstow.

Ibby auctioned the collector's items to raise money for pensioners in the borough, through Oldham Age UK, as he said he couldn't keep the gift "knowing so many are struggling in our community, especially our pensioners this winter".

The auction closed and the cricket memorabilia went to the highest bidder, who bid £650, which was donated to Age UK Oldham to support the Chadderton Over 60s Club.

In response, Age UK Oldham said: "Wow, what an amazing amount.

"We cannot thank you enough, you are a truly special soul and we are so impressed with all you do for our community.

"We will ensure every penny is spent helping local older people, as you intended."

Ibby with the Oldham Civic Appreciation Award Ibby with the Oldham Civic Appreciation Award (Image: Darren Robinson Photography)

Ibby has also held bake sales, a sponsored social media silence, where he went offline for 666 hours, and other auctions to help with his fundraising target.

Now, the inspirational teen has revealed his efforts this year have seen a whopping £16,688 raised for causes close to his heart.

This includes £6,000 for NorthCare Charity, which has gone on to support Royal Oldham's A&E unit with new equipment for a paediatric sensory room and an A&E "relatives room".

An 18-day bake sale for Dr Kershaw's Hospice's dementia hub raised £660 and a similar pie sale, where more than 100 pies were baked and sold for £6.66, raised more than £660 for Oldham Foodbank.

His recent pie sales have supported Oldham Foodbank and Oldham A&EHis recent pie sales have supported Oldham Foodbank and Oldham A&E (Image: Team Ibby)

Other charities that have received a slice of the funds include The Manchester Foundation Trust Charity, which supports Royal Manchester Children's Hospital, Transport for Sick Children, Maggie's Oldham, Oldham Foodbank, Dr Kershaw's Hospice and Age UK Oldham among others.

Reflecting on this achievement, Ibby said: "Knowing I already have a number of severe health conditions and then at the start of the year dealing with further health problems, I just wanted to continue as I felt very blessed that I still could continue fundraising.

"I know my suffering is nothing compared to others out there.

"I was worried in January if we would hit our £10K yearly target and I am so overwhelmed by everyone's #TeamIbby support to have this year raised £16,688.

"As captain of my team,  I once again can’t thank everyone enough for supporting me on social media and offline but most importantly helping our local charities.

"I am just so humbled by all the support and overwhelmed." 

Got a story? Email me Olivia.bridge@newsquest.co.uk