'Overwhelmed' - City backs Ivanna's bid for life-saving heart treatment

"Thank you, Sunderland," says Ivanna Potts, four, after the city pulled together to help fund lifesaving treatment in the US.

- by Neil Fatkin

A smiling Ivanna with her mum Shannon.

So far, the people of Sunderland and beyond have raised more than £173,000 of the £250,000 needed to fund a lifesaving surgery in Boston after Ivanna's options on the NHS became limited.

"We're just so overwhelmed, we never expected this level of support and can't thank people enough," said the youngster's mum Shannon, as we met mum and daughter, who gave us a big thumbs up, at the latest fundraiser at Arrow Gym.

The team at the gym in Leechmere Industrial Estate, which Ivanna's dad Jack attends, is covering the equivalent distance from Sunderland to Boston and back, 10,300km, doing a minimum of 5km each on either the bike, ski machine or rower.