Keighley cancer sufferer Correena Done became a grandma this week during her final battle to beat the disease.

A baby boy, weighing just over 5lbs, was born over the weekend, making one of Correena's last wishes - to become a grandmother - come true.

Doctors have told Correena, 36, of Chestnut Close, Keighley, there is little more conventional medicine can do to stop her cancer spreading.

But her family and friends are trying desperately to raise £5-6,000 to send her to a pioneering medical centre in Tijuana, Mexico, for alternative therapy along with her husband Adrian and five-year-old daughter Laura. After Correena's brave five-year battle against cancer her family and friends see the trip as giving her one last chance at life.

Her cousin Jackie Turton says: "We really need to get her to Mexico by the end of this month, otherwise she is going to be too ill to travel. That gives us only two to three weeks to raise the money, so we are doing everything we can.

"She is getting worse every day so the urgency of this appeal is really important. I would just like to thank everyone involved for their support and generous contributions."

Today Correena will appear on Calendar News to try to raise more money in her desperate appeal for immediate help.

Staff and students at Keighley's Holy Family School have rallied behind maths teacher Jackie - Coreena's cousin - in her campaign to raise cash.

Five boys from Holy Family have volunteered to dress up as the Spice Girls at a school disco on Wednesday. The disco will take place between 7-9pm and is for pupils aged 11-13. There will also be party games at the event. Tickets cost £2.

On Tuesday January 27, a school disco will take place at Holy Family for students aged 13-15.

Other sponsored events at Holy Family include a three-day sponsored silence, sponsored fast, cycle, run and a sponsored 'be good'.

One of Holy Family's sports assistants is going on a sponsored diet for eight weeks and has been given free use of the Betta Bodies gym, Goulbourne Street, Keighley.

Jackie has been asked to come to school dressed in school uniform for one day. Other students from the school have volunteered to take part in sponsored hikes and will bake cakes and buns in a bid to help raise the cash as quickly as possible.

A meal and cabaret evening has been organised by former Cougars chairman Mick O'Neill at the Three Sisters Hotel, Haworth, on Thursday, January 22, at 7.30pm. Tickets cost £15 and spaces are limited. Auctions and raffles will also be held at the three-course meal event. For tickets, contact Ellen Curran on 01535 661897 (evenings).

Correena's friend and appeal organiser Julie Melvin has arranged a sponsored walk from Keighley's Robbo's pub, in Parkwood Street, to Bingley and back, along the canal bank, on Sunday, January 25.

Around 200 people are expected to turn up. The start time of the walk is 10am. Sponsor forms can be picked up from the Keighley News office. Soup and refreshments will be served at the pub after the walk.

One of Correena's friends is having her head shaved during a benefit concert at Robbo's on January 31 at 7.30pm, which will also include a tombola and raffles.

Tickets for the event, priced £3, can be obtained from one of the numbers listed below. Correena's friends are hoping other pubs across the town will donate a penny a pint on the same day towards the appeal.

Keen golfer Lance Dentith has donated a brand-new £800 set of golf clubs to be raffled for the appeal.

Lance, a member of the St Anne's Golf Society in Keighley and a friend of Correena and Adrian, hopes to raise well over £1,000 for the appeal by raffling the full set of Hippo Beast graphite-shaft irons and woods. Fellow member Terry Keane has also donated a golf bag to carry them in.

"We sold £550-worth of tickets on Monday alone," he says. "We just want to raise as much as possible, as quickly as possible, so that Correena can go for her treatment." Tickets are £1 each, and can be bought from Lance (01535 214843 or 690030), Terry Keane (601133) or Jim McSharry (617058). The winning tic-ket will be drawn on February 1 at St Anne's Social Club.

Keighley schools have been asked to help and those involved so far include St Joseph's RC Primary School, in Queen's Road, Ingrow, Oakbank School, in Oakworth Road, and Nessfield First School, in Nessfield Drive.

The Commercial Inn, in Church Street, Keighley, has donated a bar collection of £125.

A Valentine's dance in aid of the appeal will be held at Churchill House, Keighley, on Saturday, February 14, from 1.30-4.30pm There will be music by Flo and Harry and tickets for the event, priced £2, are available by ringing 607954. Payment can also be made at the door.

Pleas for help in cash or kind have gone out to various local groups and businesses and the fundraisers hope that people will organise jumble sales and coffee mornings and donate the proceeds. Especially needed are raffle prizes. Donations can also be made directly into a cancer appeal fund set up for Correena at Lloyds Bank, Keighley. The bank account number is 1170172 and the sort code is 30-91-12.

People to contact for information and tickets are Julie Melvin (01535 214724), Betty Taylor (01535 664277), Marie Rowley (01535 600199) and Debbie Roberts (01535 603205).

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