SEEING her mum battle cancer last year has inspired Hayleigh Macdivitt to get her trainers on.

The eight-year-old and her mum, Natasha, of Haydon End, will be among the hundreds of women at Lydiard Park on June 10 raising money for Cancer Research UK at the Race for Life.

Natasha, 27, is recovering after fighting stage 2b cervical cancer and Hayleigh will also be running in memory of her great-grandmother, Janet Daw, who died of cancer late last year.

The youngster, who is a pupil at Orchid Vale Primary School, said: “I want to help mummy get better.

“When I do the race I will be thinking about my mum and about nanny Janet up in the stars.The money we raise goes to charity. We have raised £105 since we started fundraising on Sunday.”

Race for Life is the UK’s biggest fund-raising event against cancer and the largest women-only event in the UK.

Since Race for Life started in 1994, six million participants have raised more than £457m, more than any other UK event series raising money to fund cancer research.

Natasha was diagnosed with the disease in July and had to travel to Bristol every day for six months to complete her treatment.

“It looked all clear in my last scan in March, but I have to take it three months at a time to make sure,” she said.

“It was a hard year last year. I didn’t see much of the kids because of travelling to Bristol every day.

“I am spending time with the kids now to make up for it.”

Natasha’s son, Joshua, 10, and daughter, Katie, four, will be cheering them on during the race.

“Our target was £200, but I think we might try and up that a bit. We weren’t expecting to do so well so quickly,” said Natasha.

Hayleigh is also organising a non-uniform day at her school ,which will see the pupils making donations to raise even more money .

“I want everyone to wear pink and white,” said Hayleigh.

Sponsor forms for Hayleigh and Natasha’s Race for Life are available in The Carters Rest, in Wroughton.

To sign up for the Race for Life visit http://raceforlife.cancer researchuk.org.

To sponsor Hayleigh and Natasha, log on to www.racefor lifesponsorme.org/teal-angels