A LIVID grandmother today said she wants to show the people who stole charity cash the plight of the sick children the money was destined to help.

A LIVID grandmother today said she wants to show the people who stole charity cash the plight of the sick children the money was destined to help.

Burglars made off with a CLIC Sargent bucket containing around �100 when they raided Woodbridge Town Football Club earlier this month.

Club member Val Smy set up the fund because the children's cancer charity had provided invaluable support for her grandson, Oliver Lomas, when he was struck down with leukaemia six years ago.

Mr Lomas, now 22, was treated at Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge and given a last-minute bone marrow transplant at Bristol Children's Hospital in 2003.

Mrs Smy, 67, said: “I burst into tears. I was so cross. I would like to get hold of them and cart them to the children's wards at Addenbrooke's and Bristol to show them what these kids have to go through.

“I don't want people telling me these thieves have got a bad background or there's a credit crunch - I'm having none of it.”

Mr Lomas has been in remission for five years - despite being given a 40 per cent chance of survival - and he is now working for his parents at the Plough and Sail pub in Snape.

The club, in Seckford Hall Road, was broken into between 11.10pm on Saturday, March 7 and 3.05am the next day and the thieves pinched two tins of cigars, two collection tins as well as the charity bucket from the bar.

In a show of support for Mrs Smy, bingo players at the club decided to donate profits, which normally go to East Anglia's Children's hospices, to CLIC Sargent.

Police are appealing for information over the burglary and are asking anyone who knows anything to call Pc Darren Jones at Woodbridge Police Station on 01473 613500 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555111.

What is your view of the thieves? Do you have a message for the family? Write to Your Letters, The Evening Star, 30 Lower Brook Street, Ipswich, IP4 1AN or send us an e-mail to eveningstarletters@eveningstar.co.uk

OLIVER Lomas was just a few weeks away from death in 2002 after discovering he had chronic myeloid leukaemia on a trip to France.

But today the former Farlingaye High School pupil is taking life in his stride and pursuing a career in the pub industry.

The 22-year-old, who described his six-year remission as “brilliant”, even has aspirations of running a pub himself one day.

Mr Lomas spent several weeks in a French hospital after collapsing while out tenpin bowling with friends.

Within three months, Mr Lomas went into the advanced stage of the disease, when patients are usually given six to eight weeks to live.

Luckily, a bone marrow donor was found quickly and he underwent surgery in Bristol and while making a recovery the family were full of praise for the CLIC Sargent nurse at Ipswich Hospital.

Now working at the Plough and Sail in Snape, Mr Lomas, of Waldringfield, said: “I never really thought about things at the time and I never looked ahead and thought what I would or wouldn't be able to do. I didn't want to take that attitude. I just wanted to keep a positive mind.”