Jacob was relentlessly bullied when his mum died, now his story is his strength

Now he's sharing his story in the hope of helping kids like him.

The now 21-year-old is fundraising in this year's annual charity event for Canteen, the Australian non-for-profit which provides free and tailored support to young people aged 12 to 25 impacted by cancer.

"When this happened to me, I realised that not a lot of kids understood what I was going through," Mr Butcher said.

"But Canteen did, and it saved my life."

When he was 12, as Jacob Butcher was graduating primary school, his mother was first diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia.

It came as a complete shock, and Mr Butcher's grandparents were left to look after him and his two brothers while his dad worked to keep the family going.

The Butcher family eventually relocated Mr Butcher's mother to Melbourne for treatment. But it was, sadly, ineffectual. And in 2015, Jacob's mum had a bone marrow transplant so she could spend one last outing with each of her sons one-on-one.

Jacob flew up to Melbourne where he, his mum and dad spent the day in Geelong, visiting a waterpark, walking along the boardwalk and having an ice cream together.

"It was so lovely to see her smile just one more time," Mr Butcher said.

Shortly after, Jacob's mum was placed in an induced coma, and sadly passed away in June 2015, days before her 39th birthday.

"I still remember the nurses standing outside the door, crying with us as we turned off the life support and said our final goodbyes".

Mr Butcher's journey with Canteen started in 2015, when the people who he thought were friends turned against him, leaving him feeling isolated and depressed.

"I don't think they knew how to acknowledge it, or express their emotions towards it," he said.

"So they did what they thought was easier: they bullied the outcast to get him to stop hanging out with them."

And, after a poor experience with his school counsellor - which gave him the motivation for his career path; "I knew I could do it better," he said - he finally attended Canteen Australia's Good Grief program.

The two-night camp brings together bereaved young people to learn about different ways of coping with grief.

The program saved his life.

"When something like that happens in your life, you feel like nbody's going to understand what you're going through," he said.

"But they did, and so did the other kids there that were going through that. I don't know if I would have bounced back from it and come to the mindset that I have now if it weren't for that camp."

The experience led to Mr Butcher studying social work at university, and to his fundraising efforts this year.

Jacob is giving back to the charity which changed his life by spearheading donations to Canteen's national Tax Appeal campaign, a drive which the organisation hopes will raise $416K for young people impacted by cancer.

"I just really hope that I can give support to people and help others understand that they aren't alone," he said.

"There is always, always support out there."

Donations to the Canteen Tax Appeal campaign can be made at https://donate.canteen.org.au/