A five-year-old boy who is now cancer free after Simon Cowell urged fans to donate funds for his treatment has thanked the Britain's Got Talent supremo in person.
Zac Oliver suffered from the extremely rare Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia and his family desperately needed to raise funds to send him to the US.
Music mogul Cowell raised Zac's plight in a video last October and the kind talent show judge then coughed up a hefty £50,000 donation to the appeal.
Following a flood of donations the appeal target was reached and Zac, from Broseley, Shropshire, underwent 17 weeks of treatment in Philidelphia.
He is currently in remission from the cancer and started back at school in March.
Zac and mum Hannah Oliver-Willets met Cowell last Thursday as he filmed Britain's Got Talent and were finally able to tell him of their gratitude.
Cowell even let Zac have a go on the famous Britain's Got Talent red buzzer.
Hannah said: "In the break one of the production team came and got us and we were able to go down and meet him and he was able to meet Zac.
"I kind of cried as I went up there and had to try and compose myself and got star struck and didn't know what to say."
Hannah said they were still surprised at the donation, because all they had asked for was help with a video to promote awareness of childhood cancer , and her son's appeal.
She said: "It was a little bit overwhelming when you think this guy had donated £50,000 and we had only ever asked him for a video.
"He had done the video and the only reason we knew he had donated was because at the end he said 'by the way'…"
"It was that awareness, because he had the media presence on a regular basis, it meant if we could tap into that we could raise awareness of childhood cancers and also Zac's campaign."
She added: "He was really playful and fun. He was encouraging Zac to press the red buzzer which was delightful to watch.
"That's probably why I didn't say much because it was such a beautiful moment to watch someone so influential and famous just playing so naturally with a five-year-old. It was just beautiful to watch."
Hannah also explained how she had found out about his support for other poorly children, but that he seeks no publicity for the help.
She said: "And then really crazily we stayed in a hotel that night and coincidentally we were staying in the same place with another little girl and Simon had really quietly paid for her to have an operation in the US and we shared stories which was nice.
"He's like a silent guardian angel helping people on their way."
Former England footballer Jermaine Defoe, Wolves legend Steve Bull and Dire Straits legend Mark Knopfler, also made donations towards Zac's treatment
Hannah explained support from the stars had taken their campaign across the country.
She said: "He was able to do that just because of the extent of his fame. It meant that just by getting the video. But then he donated as well which just escalated everything"
He was one of the main catalysts for raising the national profile along with Jermaine Defoe and Mark Knopfler."
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