A FIREFIGHTER has helped to raise money for a life-saving heart operation for an eight-year-old Kenyan girl.

Dave Hilliard has raised £1,800 so that Jane Wambui could have the vital surgery. Jane suffers from a degenerative heart condition called atrioventricular canal disease, which affects the valves in the heart muscle.

Without the procedure her life expectancy would be severely reduced.

Dave, from Lammack, Blackburn, first came across Jane’s situation through a close friend from Kenya, Geoffrey Githuka.

Both he and Geoffrey worked together with charities in the country before, such as helping to build a water storage tank for a secondary school in 2007, among other successful projects.

Last year Geoffrey came across the charity THAP (Take Heart Association Project) which sponsors young children in need of heart operations and was given Jane to sponsor.

The funds for the operation were raised with the help of Dave’s family, friends and colleagues through coffee mornings, bring-and-buy sales and donations.

He said: “We just did what we could to raise as much money as possible to go towards Jane’s operation and the cost of her aftercare and medication.

"We raised £850 and all of it will be going towards helping Jane. It was good of people to contribute.”

A donation of £1,000 came from a man present at one of the events who had never even met Dave before.

The man, who would like to remain anonymous, said: “When I said I wanted to donate the money Dave was totally dumbfounded, he had to rest against a cupboard. "I thought it was a worthwhile cause and a wonderful thing to do for someone.

"It was a spur of the moment thing. I feel really good about it and am hoping to maybe go and visit Jane in Kenya.”

Jane has now had her operation and is making a steady recovery in hospital.