A SCHOOLGIRL is helping raise vital funds for a cancer charity staging community events across Canvey.

After receiving the heartbreaking news five years ago that her grandmother had been diagnosed with breast cancer and that a close family friend had tragically lost the fight, selfless Charlotte Crowne-Spencer, of Meadway, Canvey decided she could not just sit back and do nothing.

Instead, the 13-year-old Castle View School pupil, put her best foot forward and decided she would dedicate her spare time to raising money for Cancer Research UK.

Since then she has been baking cakes and carrying out yard duties for her neighbours to do all she could for the charity and its efforts to one day cure all cancers.

Earlier this month the youngster managed to raise £360 by holding a raffle, at the King CanutePub, in Canvey Road, after successfully contacting local businesses to donate prizes for the event.

Proud mum, Samantha Crowne-Spencer, 38, said: “Sadly, even at such a young age, Charlotte knows so many people who have been diagnosed with cancer and unfortunately, unlike her grandmother, not all of them have survived.

“But I am so extremely proud of her. She is so incredibly selfless and is always the first to say she wants to do something rather than just sitting back and letting things happen. So many people showed up to support her at the raffle, which was lovely, and I know she won’t stop there.”

When Charlotte was born she was diagnosed with a hole in the heart and so knows only too well the impact serious medical conditions can have and the need to fight back.

Mrs Crowne-Spencer added: “Thankfully Charlotte is fine now, but she has always grown up with health issues so I think that’s what drives her as well.”