KIND-HEARTED superstore staff rallied round to raise cash for a specialist hospital unit after a colleague's young daughter was diagnosed as suffering from leukaemia.

Workers at Asda, Colne, staged fund-raising events to gather cash and their total was matched by the company's head office.

A cheque for £1,355 was presented to nurses from the Borchardt Ward of the Royal Manchester Children's Hospital, where Gayle Williams' four-year-old daughter Natasha is undergoing treatment.

Natasha, a pupil at Christ Church Primary School, Colne, was diagnosed with leukaemia in April and has since undergone courses of treatment at the hospital.

"At the moment she's doing well but she's got to undergo another block of treatment over Christmas," explained Gayle. "Hopefully she won't have to go into hospital. I'll be able to give her the treatment at home. But if she catches a bug or something then she'll have to go in."

Gayle said colleagues at the store and at the company as a whole had been marvellous in giving her support.

"They've been absolutely brilliant with me," she said. "The support has been out of this world."

Among the local fund-raising efforts was a sponsored swim, a raffle and general manager Chris Brogan dressing up as a checkout "girl" with a bucket collecting donations.

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