A MUM will launch a charity fundraising campaign to raise £35,000 in her daughter’s name.

Heather Curtis, 34, of Canvey, aims to raise almost £2,000 a month over 18 months of fundraising.

She will officially launch Hannah’s Appeal tomorrow, at an Eighties disco, with optional fancy dress, at the Kursaal in Southend.

The appeal is named after her ten-year-old daughter Hannah and the cash will go to Little Havens Children’s Hospice as a thank you for care and support the Thundersley charity gave Hannah.

The £35,000 target is the equivalent to funding a specialist children’s nurse at Little Havens for a year.

Hannah was diagnosed, at Great Ormond Street Hospital in 2005, with an extremely rare condition known as Diffuse Dysplatic AVM.

The condition means the veins and arteries in Hannah’s brain are an entangled mass because they connect without any capillaries.

Heather said: “It’s like something is taking the blood and oxygen away from Hannah’s brain.

“It has caused malformation of her skull and she has aneurisms in her brain which bleed, the biggest threat being that they could burst at any time.

“She experiences regular seizures and the doctors didn’t think she’d live until her fifth birthday and told us we had to be prepared to let her go.”

In 2006, Hannah had a major bleed in her brain which stopped her being able to walk and eat.

A more recent diagnosis has revealed the condition is now affecting the right side of her brain and she is going blind.

Hannah was referred to Little Havens in August 2005 by staff at Southend Hospital and Heather said the charity’s support is invaluable, as she is Hannah’s mum, doctor, nurse and chemist.

Over the next 18 months Heather will be arranging community events including parties, charity balls and fun days, as well as collecting donations on Canvey, doing a skydive, the Bupa 10k run, the Southend Half Marathon, the Great Pier Swim, and the Three Peaks Challenge.

Tickets for the launch party are £10 each and are available by e-mailing Heather at hevs1angel@hotmail. co.uk.

Visit www.justgiving.com/Heather-Curtis-0 to support the campaign.