STAFF from Aviva in York have rallied round in support of a colleague whose daughter has a chromosome condition so rare that it doesn’t have a name.

Colleagues of Emma Thompson staged a ‘dawn til dusk’ tennis marathon in Rowntree Park in a bid to raise £1,000 for Unique.

The charity has helped her since she discovered her young daughter Ellouise was one of only nine people in the world known to suffer from ‘3p26.3-25.3 deletion.’

Emma, of Newton Upon Derwent, told The Press in August how the known potential complications of the condition included heart defects, kidney and bowel issues, speech problems, sight and hearing issues, feeding problems, cognitive development and degeneration issues.

She said the family’s only source of information and support since the diagnosis had been Unique, which had shared medical research with them and put them in touch with the other families.

She hoped during the marathon that the event would help the family smash its £5,000 fundraising target.

She said the total had already reached £3,500 before the Aviva staff took to the court, thanks to plans by her cycling-mad Aunt Allison to take part in a 100-mile bike ride last month, called Velo South.

The ride was called off because of bad weather but she now planned to take part in a similar one next year.

She said Aviva had agreed to match fund the amount raised by the players, which was set to take the total raised to about £5,500.

An Aviva spokeswoman said eight players had taken part in the marathon, playing for a total of ten hours, and £1,100 had been raised so far, although contributions were still coming in.

“Aviva will double all contributions,” she confirmed.