A SICK girl took a break from hospital to thank shoppers, supermarket staff and toddlers for their donations.

Catherine Readshaw, ten, from Ferryhill, is being treated for leukaemia at the Royal Victoria Infirmary, in Newcastle.

It is the second time she has had to undergo chemotherapy after being diagnosed in 2001, and she will have a bone marrow transplant in August.

Her struggle against the disease inspired people in Spennymoor, where she attends Tudhoe St Charles Primary School, to raise funds for the family.

The town's Asda supermarket, where her aunt Elaine Egleton works, led the fundraising effort with customer donations, and a series of staff raffles and gifts.

Events co-ordinator Ann Allison said: "We have collected money to help the family travel to and from hospital and gifts, including a television, to help cheer Catherine up. She is such a fighter we want to do all we can."

Tudhoe Moor Nursery School held a sponsored obstacle course and raised £1,105 to send the Readshaw family on a break.

Headteacher Sandra Heslop said: "We've only got 65 children so we've done very well to raise so much, the parents have been very supportive and the pupils did their best to help."

Catherine's mother, Marie, said: "We are really grateful to everyone who helps us, it makes an enormous difference to have financial helps for our hospital visits."