A YOUNGSTER fighting cancer became a celebrity for the day when he was called on to cut the ribbon at the reopening of a charity shop.

Tom Claxton, 12, of Richmond, North Yorkshire, yesterday (MAR 7) officially re-opened the new-look Cancer Research UK shop in Northallerton High Street, formerly Imperial Cancer Research.

The name change is due to a merger with fellow charity Cancer Research Campaign. The event marked a special anniversary for Tom - a year to the day since he was diagnosed with a brain tumour.

The plucky youngster has just come out of hospital in Newcastle where he was undergoing chemotherapy.

His mother, Linda Bailey, said: "It is important to support places like this. When you see all the treatment that children have to go through, it is like another world."

Tom was nominated to open the shop by his grandmother, Ivy Bailey of Northallerton, who herself contracted breast cancer 14 years ago.

Shop manager Rachel Smith said: "The reason I wanted Tom to do it was because it is more relevant to him than it is to a celebrity off Coronation Street. Tom is the type of person that we are trying to help and the reason why we are all here."