A LEIGH policeman is running his last ever London Marathon for a little girl who is battling cancer.

The run may be a gruelling 26 miles, but PC Phil Collie has the end in sight because of inspirational children like Olivia Taylor.

The two-year-old, from Thorpe Bay, has been suffering from a cancer called Wilms and had to have both her kidneys removed to give her a fighting chance.

The brave tot was diagnosed with the disease on April 3 last year, when she was just 22 months old, and had to undergo chemotherapy..

PC Collie, 39, said: “My wife’s friend felt an abnormal lump.

“They had it checked out and found she had a cancer known as Wilms. She was referred to Great Ormond Street Hospital where she underwent severe chemotherapy because the lump was in her kidneys.”

Olivia had to have an operation to remove one of her kidneys and have a section of the other kidney removed. It was later discovered the bloodflow to the remaining part of her kidney had been affected and the organ was dying.

Her parents, Natalie and Paul Taylor, have just found they are both suitable matches for a kidney transplant. One of them will now have to go through the process of donating a kidney, but they were relieved to discover the cancer had not spread.

PC Collie has two young children of his own, called Lillie, two, and Annie, one. He said: “They are close friends and you think what it would be like to be in that position yourself.”

He decided to run the marathon in aid of children’s charity Sparks – which funds medical research into diseases suffered by babies and young children.

PC Collie, who is the neighbourhood specialist officer for Belfairs, has run the marathon three times before, but has decided this will be his last.

To donate visit www.justgiving. com/philcollie