AN APPEAL to help change the life of an eight-year-old York girl has passed the £10,000 mark.

Poppy Wadsworth lives with a congenital birth condition called cloaca, which means several of her internal organs are not properly separated.

She has undergone years of corrective surgery - including an 11-hour procedure when she was just seven-months-old - and doctors in the USA have offered to contribute £50,000 for a life-changing operation if her family can raise the same.

A Just Giving page was set up in February to help raise the money to send Poppy to Columbus, Ohio, for the procedure, and yesterday stood at more than £10,700 with over 200 individual donations, many anonymous, ranging from £5 to £2,000.

Alison, Poppy's mother, said she was finally starting to believe they may be able to raise the money needed to change her daughter's life.

She said: "She's feeling quite emotional, and it's all getting a bit real, so she's getting a bit nervous thinking it might happen.

"We can't believe it's gone from about £800 to nearly £11,000, it's absolutely amazing. It's unbelievable, to think how far we've come. People I don't even know have been putting money in, which is fabulous."

A pop-up boutique will be held on May 24 at All Saints village hall in Upper Poppleton, selling brand new and vintage fashion to raise money for the fund, with raffle and auction prizes including a signed Leeds Rhinos rugby shirt, a new television, and backstage tickets to a Shed Seven gig later this year.

Alison said she was also hoping to arrange a combined non-uniform day at schools around the city and dress-down day at local businesses, also in May, on a date to be decided.

She said: "It feels like we're getting there, we're reaching the targets. We don't want to push it down peoples' throats, but hope we can keep the momentum going."

To find out more about the boutique, search Facebook for Poppy's Pop Up Boutique.

To donate, go to justgiving.com/Alison-Wadsworth