A big-hearted donor has pledged £10,000 to a cancer charity fronted by an inspirational Moray youngster – if it can encourage 10,000 people to make a single click online.
Solving Kids’ Cancer was approached by an anonymous benefactor earlier this week who said that if it can get 10,000 people to ‘like’ its Facebook page by Christmas Eve, he will pledge the same amount to the charity in pounds.
Forres youngster Eileidh Paterson is currently the face of its national campaign in the lead-up to Christmas, which is raising funds to fight aggressive childhood cancers.
Three-year-old Eileidh was diagnosed with neuroblastoma last May and has since won the hearts of thousands with her bravery and strength.
In spring the toddler’s mother, Gail Paterson, launched a quest to secure £100,000 so that Eileidh could begin a pioneering drugs course in America.
And thanks to selfless fundraisers from Moray and beyond, who dug deep into their pockets and arranged countless events, the tally eventually reached £125,000.
Eileidh was given the all-clear towards the end of July and since then has travelled to the Helen DeVos Hospital in Michigan twice to receive medication designed to prevent the disease returning.
Earlier this month, her mother revealed how she was excited about Christmas Day and keeps talking about Santa coming to town.
The Solving Kids’ Cancer Facebook page currently has around 9,000 ‘likes’, however it had 5,360 when the donor got in touch, so the actual target is more than 15,000.
Jessica Demuth, communications manager at Solving Kids’ Cancer Europe, said it was a wonderful early Christmas present and urged people to help the charity earn every pound.
“Our wonderful donor came into the office at the beginning of December and told us how he’d like to support the charity in a Christmas appeal,” she explained.
“But he insisted that he remained anonymous.
“To reach his target of £10,000 we need another 6,000 likes before Christmas Eve and time is running out.
“We want to encourage everyone to like us and help us get there. All the funds raised will be used by Solving Kids Cancer to help support families like Eileidh’s and fund new research for better treatments.”