A MUM who beat leukaemia has reached her goal of raising £1,000 for cancer research thanks to a kind-hearted carer.

Jane Duffett, a retailer manager for music company Handalman UK, feared she would never reach her dream target when sponsors failed to pay the cash they promised when she had her head shaved for charity.

But help was at hand when a carer, who looks after an elderly man, asked her why she had let her "trendy short haircut" grow.

"We had always spoken about videos," said 35-year-old Mrs Duffett.

"I would often see her in Somerfield in Evesham when I delivered the videos on a Thursday.

"When she saw my head shaved back in January she thought I was being a trendy young mum. When I told her why I had my head shaved and how I had beaten leukaemia she was so flabbergasted that she wrote a cheque for £50."

The kind gesture from the woman, who is known to Mrs Duffett only by sight, along with a £10 donation from a Pershore pensioner, meant she had finally topped the £1,000 milestone.

"I feel it is a bit sad of some of the others to sponsor me and not pay the money," she said, adding she feared some had promised cash "to look good in front of their friends".

Mrs Duffett, from Littleworth, near Worcester, gave a message of hope to other leukaemia sufferers last year when she beat the disease.

She had been diagnosed with cancer of the blood at the age of eight.

Although she originally lost her hair through radiation treatment, she shaved her newly-grown hair off in January to raise money for leukaemia research.

"It was bloomin' cold," she added.

"But leukaemia research is so important and that was why I did it."