Three members of the same Colchester family whose lives have all been affected by breast cancer have handed over £1,645 for the breast unit at Essex County Hospital.

Maria Burmby, 33, her mother Carol Cannell, 52, of Monkwick and Maria's cousin Petra Crees, 34, of Prettygate, were joined by Karen McDermott and Sharon Hanks, who are members of the women's darts team at the Silver Oyster in Monkwick with them for a sponsored bed push.

The quintet wore pink bras as they pushed the bed through Colchester town centre in July and collected cash from the public and through sponsorship.

They also collected money with a pub crawl around six pubs, starting at The Silver Oyster at Queen Elizabeth Way and with a raffle at the pub.

The scheme was the brain child of Mrs Burmby who works as a care assistant in a nursing home.

The mother-of-two had a double mastectomy in September.

She said: "My mother was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 1994 and had a double mastectomy."

The money raised will go towards the £26,000 needed to buy a mammotome, a vacuum assisted biopsy device which helps will diagnosis.

There are only 38 of them in the UK.

Published Friday November 1, 2002

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