Emelia’s mud deed is a charity winner
A‘THOUGHTFUL’ nine-year-old girl has raised more than £500 for Cancer Research after braving a muddy challenge.
Emelia Pilling, of Helmshore, heard an advert about the Race for Life on the radio in the car one day and said how much she would like to take part - in memory of her great-grandma Lillian Gleave, who lived in Haslingden.
Her family looked into it and found a ‘Pretty Muddy Kids’ event being held at Heaton Park in Manchester, and booked Emelia and her best friend, Evelyn onto the event before beginning fundraising.
Her mum Rebecca said: “Unfortunately during this time, our lovely neighbour of six years had passed away from cancer himself and Emelia expressed a great passion to run in memory for him too.
“Through Facebook posts, Emelia telling her friends and family, the donations were totting up.”
On the night before the run Rebecca took Emelia, who attends Haslingden Primary School, for a treat to the Village Stores in Helmshore where a man named overheard their conversation.
“He asked for the donation link so that he could sponsor her once he was back home.
“Once the family got home they were notified of a new donation of £100 from Paul, on behalf of 5XP Engineering Ltd.
Rebecca added: “Emelia was in tears and genuinely couldn’t believe the extreme generosity of people.
“She has written Paul a letter since and is hoping to post it to his business address soon.
“She is incredibly thoughtful, and the happiness she has felt from raising money for such a good cause is amazing to see on her face.”
The following day Emelia and Evelyn did amazingly in the Race for Life event and got extremely wet and muddy.
Emelia has so far managed to raise £530 for Cancer Research, and Rebecca and Emelia’s dad Elliott are extremely proud of her.
Emelia, who has sisters Elsie and Kyra and a brother Archie, is already thinking about her next fundraiser for smaller charities in need of help locally to home.
To donate to the charity you can visit fundraise.cancerresearchuk. org and search for ‘Emelia’s Race for Life Rebecca’.