An appeal in the Western Morning News raised enough money in just three weeks to ensure that pioneering treatment for a rare form of epilepsy in children can continue for another year.

Sarah’s Appeal was launched by the paper to raise £25,000 after it heard of the plight of four-year-old Sarah Laslett from Looe, Cornwall, who suffered up to 70 epileptic fits a day and had to wear a crash helmet to protect her head from frequent falls.

Sarah, along with other children with the same rare condition, had been benefiting from a new diet-based treatment pioneered in the USA and being trialled at Great Ormond Street Hospital in London.

But the treatment is not available on the NHS and funds were running out.

Editor Barrie Williams was contacted by a friend who teaches Sarah and Sarah’s Appeal was launched.

In less than three weeks readers had contributed £24,000 and Duncan Currall, regional managing director of Westcountry Publications, publishers of the WMN, wrote a final cheque for £1,000 to ensure that the appeal hit its target.

Barrie said: “Sarah is an incredibly brave little girl who remains as bright as a button despite her condition. She won our hearts and those of our readers, whose response was incredible.”

In a letter to the company, Sarah’s father Simon wrote: “The Western Morning News campaign and your company’s most generous donation to the appeal have given so many suffering children and their families a chance for a better future, a chance which Government funding has so shamefully failed to offer.

“Whilst I have long been an admirer of the Western Morning News for its consistent and accurate reporting of the issues that really matter in the daily lives of its readership, I will also now remain in awe of its campaigning ability to change lives for the better and, in doing so, to strengthen the bonds of community within its catchment area.”

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