THE fundraising campaign for tragic mum Zoe Milton has hit its £70,000 target.

Zoe, from Horwich, was diagnosed with cervical cancer in December last year �— less than 12 months after giving birth to her son Charlie. She died on September 21 at the age of 28.

The campaign to raise money for Bolton Hospice, where Zoe received palliative care, went viral on Facebook and the fundraising site Just Giving.

Jane Walker, who started the campaign just two months ago, said: “Zoe’s mother told me when she was in the hospice that Zoe was fighting to the very end, and that’s exactly what we’ll be doing for her with the campaign. She’s an incredible inspiration.”

Mrs Walker, from Active Rider, first offered to raise money to care for Zoe’s horse Romeo after hearing her story, but has since collected more than 1,300 donations for the hospice.

A fundraising deadline was set for the end of October, and the 48-year-old is now expecting the final tally to smash the £80,000 barrier.

The campaign’s final push was called Fabulous Friday �— with all of Active Rider’s 7,000 supporters asked to donate a small amount.

“I’ve been really inspired by the last few donations that have been coming in for Fabulous Friday,” Mrs Walker added.

“We’ve been raising £10,000 a week for a while now and if we could go on doing this forever we would raise a huge amount for the hospice.

“I cried when we got to £1,000 after just a few hours of setting up the website, and when this is all finished I’ll be crying again.”

Auction prizes donated by celebrities and organisations from the horse riding community have contributed more than half of the overall total, while separate raffles organised by the Active Rider group and Zoe’s friend Paula Brooks have raised almost £6,000.

Mrs Walker and her team of volunteers are now planning to visit Bolton Hospice in November to see how the money raised will be spent.