Postcard girl gets stamp of approval

INTERNATIONAL backing . . . Keira-Louise Arnold

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A LITTLE girl whose postcard campaign for Dr Kershaw's Hospice inspired international support is delighted to be nominated for a Pride of Oldham award.

Keira-Louise Arnold, from Derker, collected more than 1,000 postcards from around the globe after her grandmother promised to give her £100 to donate to the Royton hospice if she collected cards to raised awareness for the charity last year.

The Stoneleigh Academy pupil was inspired to help Dr Kershaw's after they cared for her father, Stephen Greaves, when he was diagnosed with stomach cancer before he passed away in September 2012, aged just 28.

Support

With the help of her mum Stacey, Keira launched her appeal on Facebook and it soon went viral, with her story picked up by the Oldham Chronicle, Dr Kershaw's and local radio.

Soon the postcards came flooding into her school, Stoneleigh Academy, from across the UK and even as far away as Thailand, the USA, Canada and New Zealand, including one package from Hocking Primary School in Western Australia, which sent 40 cards, one from each child in its their Year 6 class.

The youngster also received several hundred pounds in donations to give to the hospice plus kind words of support from those who saw her appeal.

Keira said: "I am so happy that people think I have done a good job of my fundraising.

"I was so happy with all the response I got from so many people and from so far all over the world.

"Now lots more people know about Dr Kershaw's and how important it is to help them to help people just like they did with My Daddy. I loved being able to take the money to them, which turned out to be a lot more than I expected to get, to give to the nurses to help other people and their families."

Keira's grandmother Julie Smith added that the determined fundraiser is already thinking about her next venture.

She said: "It was a lovely experience that was to see Keira's reaction when I told her that she had been nominated for a Pride in Oldham award.

"She looked at me in disbelief and cried some very happy tears."