A BRAVE schoolgirl has raised more than £2,600 to try to find a cure for cancer to save her terminally ill mum.
After her mum was diagnosed with terminal cancer 10-year-old Rebecca Dutton, of Depmore Lane, Kingsley, decided she wanted to raise thousands of pounds to help keep her mum alive.
On December 2, Rebecca, known as Becky to her family and friends, joined thousands of children as she ran a kilometre through the streets of Liverpool dressed in a Santa suit to raise money for Macmillan Cancer Support.
The Kingsley Community Primary School pupil set herself a modest target of £100, but has now raised £2,652.50 after almost 100 people rushed to support her special fundraising effort online and held events in her honour.
Since she started fundraising in November businesses, community groups, family, friends and strangers have flooded Becky’s Just Giving page with messages of support, praising her as a ‘brave’ and ‘extraordinary’ girl, who ‘is an inspiration to all of us’.
“She was made up on the day, she is absolutely made up so many people have donated money,” said Karen Sutton, who is undergoing indefinite chemotherapy for grade four glioblastoma brain tumours after she was diagnosed with brain cancer in June 2011.
“I’m just so proud of her, she is just an angel. Her New Year’s resolution was to look after me more.
“We are just so grateful to everyone who has supported her in this. It has been incredible that everyone has donated so much. It was just amazing, within three days she had smashed the target. I am so proud of her, she is a star.”
Karen, who is hoping to go back on chemotherapy this week after having to stop due to illness in December, thanked Frodsham Round Table for donating a generous £500 towards her daughter’s charity challenge.
Becky chose to raise money for Macmillan Nurses after picking up a fundraising leaflet at Clatterbridge and deciding to raise money for the nurses who help to care for her mum.
Becky, who loves drawing and painting, raised the money by raffling off a love heart tree at a school bingo evening and encouraging her friends, classmates and local businesses to organise parties and events to back the cause.
Karen was 43 when she was diagnosed with cancer after doctors found a tumour on her brain.
She underwent an operation in July, but after extensive bouts of chemotherapy it returned in September.
Karen was due to have an operation in November, but on the day of the procedure doctors discovered a second tumour on her brain and decided not to operate.
