A FORMER patient called on 40 friends to help her present a £1,405 "thank you" to a hospital chemotherapy unit.

Shelley Hewitt, from Staindrop, arranged an eight-mile sponsored walk around the village to raise cash for the Mara Unit at Tindale Crescent Hospital, near Bishop Auckland.

The money will buy an infusion pump to administer chemotherapy. Sister Anita Scott, who was presented with a cheque at the Wheatsheaf Inn, in Staindrop, said: "We are over the moon that Shelley has raised so much money for us. It is quite an achievement and we are extremely grateful to her."