A TWO-YEAR-OLD girl battling leukaemia inspired a Chester teacher to go the extra mile in the city’s half marathon.

On Sunday, Peter Coates, deputy headteacher of Bishops’ High School in Great Boughton, ran across the city to raise almost £1,000 for Alder Hey Children’s Hospital, which treats children like little Erin Cross, daughter of Peter’s colleague Antony.

Antony, the school’s head of design technology, and his wife Sarah were devastated when Erin was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, a cancer of the white blood cells, last December.

The diagnosis followed months of breathing difficulties and a number of frantic hospital trips for the Cross family.

Not long afterwards, Erin underwent several rounds of gruelling chemotherapy at Alder Hey, but in January this year, tests showed her leukaemia had a high risk of relapse so she was moved on to a more intensive treatment plan with even stronger chemotherapy.

Since then she has gone on to make good progress with her treatment and is set to go on maintenance in September, which will mean regular visits to Alder Hey until December 2014.

But Sarah and Antony believe her steady recovery is linked to the exceptional care Erin received from doctors at both Alder Hey and the Countess of Chester Hospital, and it was after hearing their praise that Peter decided he wanted to do something to help.

Antony, 37, who has been a teacher at Bishops since 2002, said: “I’ve worked with Peter for over 10 years and he’s just a really nice bloke.

“He asked if we’d mind him running the Chester Half Marathon in Erin’s name as he wanted to do something practical to help raise money for Alder Hey.

“It was such a kind, generous thing to do and when people do things like this it really gives you strength.”

Antony explained: “The treatment Erin gets from Alder Hey is out of this world.

“It’s been a difficult year, with constant trips to hospital if her temperature is up, but the care she gets at Alder Hey has been amazing.

“Because of the quality of research, we’ve been given peace of mind that she’s less likely to relapse in the fututre and they’ve also been able to make the treatment less aggressive.”

Antony added: “We see so many people at Alder Hey having to raise lots of money, like Erin’s friend Anya Bentham, and we’ve been pushing for them.

“We’re lucky so much research is being done at Alder Hey for Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia.”

Peter, who completed the race in 2 hours, 4 minutes and 47 seconds, has so far raised £925 for Alder Hey, hugely surpassing his original target of £250.

He said: “I can’t imagine what it must be like for Antony and Sarah as they support their much loved daughter Erin during this challenging and worrying time.

“We pray for them all and offer them support, but it’s hard to find something practical to do, so the idea of supporting Alder Hey’s wonderful work in Erin’s name came to mind and it was a privilege to run the Chester Half Marathon for her.

“We’re so grateful for all the support that’s been received through sponsorship.”

Sarah, 39, a receptionist at City Walls Medical Centre who had eight years of fertility treatment before Erin was born, added: “This is one of those things that happens to someone else, you just never think it will happen to your little girl and when it does it turns your world upside down.

“But thanks to the treatment Erin’s received, both from the amazing doctors at the Countess and Alder Hey, now you wouldn’t even know she had leukaemia apart from her short hair.

“She has benefitted so much from the new developments and constant research that comes from the fundraising

You can still donate to Peter by visiting www.justgiving.com/peter-coates.