Mum's adrenaline rush towards £6,000 for charity

A BIRMINGHAM mum with a heart full of gratitude has raised over £6,000 for Birmingham Children's Hospital Charity after taking on multiple adrenaline-filled running challenges, inspired by her four-year-old daughter's cancer care.

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Leanne Purcell, from Billesley, completed six 10k Wolf-Runs, complete with obstacles, as well as a hardcore circuit based DEKA challenge, to say thank you for the care her daughter, Connie, receives at Birmingham Children's Hospital.

Connie was just two-years-old when Leanne first noticed signs that she was unwell. To start with, Connie occasionally appeared to look a little jaundiced, but one day she appeared to lose all strength, her lips went blue and she began to slur her words.

Leanne and Connie's dad, Sean, rushed her to their nearest emergency department fearing she had suffered a stroke but MRI and CT scans came back clear, ruling it out. Stumped, doctors ordered blood tests which revealed an indicator of Connie's devastating diagnosis - leukaemia.

Right away Connie was given a blood transfusion and the next day she was transferred to Birmingham Children's Hospital where a bone marrow sample test confirmed Connie had Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia, a rare type of cancer that affects the blood and bone marrow.