Celebrities pitch in to raise money for Thomas Cammack's cancer treatment (From York Press)

Celebrities pitch in to raise money for Thomas Cammack's cancer treatment

9:08am Tuesday 7th February 2012 in Fundraising fun By Haydn Lewis, haydn.lewis@thepress.co.uk

THE campaign to send a four-year-old cancer sufferer to America for potentially life-saving treatment has received celebrity endorsement.

Thomas Cammack is currently undergoing daily doses of gruelling anti-cancer treatment after doctors discovered that tumours had returned in his brain.

His parents have so far raised more than £40,000 with the help and support of people in Selby and York, but they are a long way off their £500,000 target. His mum, Toni Wood, said they hoped to be able to put recent celebrity endorsements to good use.

She said: “Coronation Street have been in touch and have given us Becky McDonald’s trademark denim jacket to auction or use as we see fit to help raise funds and hopefully it’ll bring quite a bit of interest.

“Also the Emmerdale actress Charley Webb, who plays Debbie Dingle in the show, is supporting us. She heard about our story and has said she’ll do what she can to help us.

“She is a mother herself and in the show her daughter has battled illness, so she was touched by Thomas’s story. She has also agreed to wear one of our Thomas Cammack wristbands to help raise awareness.”

Toni and Richard Cammack, who is Thomas’s dad, are desperately trying to raise the £500,000 they will need to guarantee treatment in America.

Thomas, from Selby, was diagnosed last year with neuroblastoma.

Toni said: “People in Selby have already been so generous and fundraising efforts are still ongoing. We have been blown away by people’s generosity, but the reality is we need a big sum of money – we still need our millionaire.”

The disease is the same one which prompted a campaign to raise £250,000 for five-year-old Jamie Inglis, of Elvington. Jamie was given the all-clear in 2010 after undergoing treatment in the US. The Press recently reported how three-year-old Sadie Rose Clifford, of Knaresborough, who was taken to New York earlier this month for treatment for neuroblastoma, had suffered a setback. Doctors in the US discovered further tumours in her liver and chest cavity.

If you would like to help Thomas by making or donation, go to bmycharity.com/thomascammackappeal for details.

Salon stylists are a cut above

The team at Fresh – The Hair Studio, who are having a “pay what you like” day to raise money for the Thomas Cammack Appeal; from left are Jade Slater, Kara Palmer and Amber Speck

STAFF at a York hair salon are helping to to raise money for Thomas.

Fresh – The Hair Studio, based at the Creepy Crawlies play centre in Wigginton Road, is usually closed on Mondays, but on February 20, it will hold a “pay what you like” day to raise money for the campaign.

Kara Palmer, a nail technician at the salon, which she runs with her hairdresser sister Jade Slater, said they would ask a minimum donation of £5, but hoped people would give generously.

Clients can book a cut and blow dry, or have a manicure and a pedicure, from 9am to 6pm.

Kara said: “I have got a little boy myself and as a parent I could not ever imagine being in their position. We want to do the best we can do to help him get the treatment he deserves and desperately needs.”