"Despite this bad news, we wanted to do something for children who won't maybe even make it to six," his father, Gerrit, told NOS.
"We came up with the idea together: Tijn had already painted his nails with a friend and liked it. I wanted to do something similar to the ice bucket challenge and men painting their nails is a bit taboo."
Last week, Tijn and his father appeared on 3FM's Serious Request, a Dutch radio show that raises money for various causes.
He used the broadcast to challenge people to have their nails painted by him for charity.
He asked people to paint their nails and donate one euro, or simply to donate 10 euros.
The donation page reads: "Paint your nails, make a donation and then challenge three of your friends to do the same."
During the segment, people started lining up outside the radio studio and asked the boy to paint their nails.
The hashtag 'heelhollandlakt', which means 'all of Holland paints', fast went viral and trended at number one in the Netherlands.
A number of high-profile celebrities began joining the cause, including DJs Armin van Buuren and Don Diablo.
Even Mark Rutte, the Prime Minister of the Netherlands, was featured on the show's Instagram account donning bright purple nails.
There was also an appeal to get Katy Perry on board, after Tijn requested her song Roar during his visit.
People have since been trying to get the singer's attention on social media.
All in all, the project pulled in a total of 8744 euros, with Dutch media hailing the boy as a hero.
The newspaper AD put him on the front cover of its Friday edition dressed as a superhero, with the headline 'SuperTijn'.
