A PARTY tomorrow (Saturday) to celebrate a little girl being cancer free is hoping to raise thousands for charity.

The picnic and sponsored children’s run will celebrate Tranent youngster Brooke Abbott beating cancer and the whole community is stepping forward to help out.

Organiser and family friend Adele Blaikie has also signed up to run ultra marathons in the hope of raising more than £2,000 for Children with Cancer.

Six-year-old Brooke was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia when she was three years old after returning from a family holiday.

Her mum, Charlene, said: “A purple rash appeared on her body and we immediately took her to our local A&E department where they took her blood.

“As we sat there waiting for the results, I asked the doctor when the results were back to not take us into a side room as I would have automatically known there was something wrong.

“Within an hour we were told that Brooke had leukaemia.

“After a long battle of different chemotherapy treatments, infections, which resulted in a 48-hour hospital stay and general anaesthetics – we lost count how many times she has been put to sleep so she could have chemo injected into her spinal fluid – Brooke finished treatment and ‘rang the bell’ on December 12.

“She is doing brilliantly and attends monthly clinics which will lengthen in time, but she will be checked until she is an adult.”

She added: “Brooke is very excited to take part in this cause as she doesn’t want anybody else to be poorly like her!”

Brooke lives with her mum, dad and older brother, eleven-year-old Kaycee, in the Toll House area of Tranent.

The money raised will go to Children with Cancer, a charity that invests money for specialist research into the causes of and treatments for childhood cancer.

The race and picnic takes place at Polson Park this Saturday with medals for participating children donated by Tranent Post Office.

Anyone who is interested in donating raffle prizes or just looking for more information should email andrewadele@aol.com