A CARING Felixstowe woman who completed a charity run to raise fund for a sick colleague has collected over £3,500 – and the money is still pouring in.

A CARING Felixstowe woman who completed a charity run to raise fund for a sick colleague has collected over £3,500 – and the money is still pouring in.

Back in October the Evening Star told the touching story of Emma Young, 23, who had decided to run the Felixstowe half-marathon in aid of her friend and colleague Samantha Russell.

Samantha, 34, was stuck down by a huge brain haemorrhage a year ago. Still in hospital, she is finally beginning to think about returning home.

But, before she can do this, her house, in Beach Road West, needs to be adapted to suit her disabilities.

Miss Young, an import clerk at freight forwarding company Schenker, hoped to raise some money towards this, but the support she has received has surpassed all expectations.

She said: "It's just been brilliant. Since people saw the last article in the paper the money has been pouring in.

"All our colleagues at Schenker have been fantastic. We've received money from all over the world.

"One lady also donated an easy chair for Samantha to use, and so far the total has exceeded £3,500."

The largest donation came from Felixstowe-based charity Basic Life, who gave Miss Young a cheque for £1,000. She said: "I nearly fell over when I opened the envelope!

"I just can't thank everybody enough."

Before the haemorrhage, on November 12 last year, Samantha displayed no warning signs or symptoms.

Her mum Lillian said: "We'd only just got back from a holiday in New York the day before.

"She went to work as normal the next day and the first I knew of anything being wrong was when I went to check on her in the evening and found her having fits on her bed."

Originally taken to Addenbrookes in Cambridge where she underwent life-saving brain surgery, Samantha was then moved to Ipswich Hospital.

She has lost the use of both legs and her right arm and also suffers from short term memory loss, but she has made such huge improvements that she has now been transferred to the Bartlett hospital.

It is hoped she will be able to return home in the early part of next year when all the work on her house is complete.