WHEN a loved one gets struck by cancer, it is easy to feel helpless.

But when 11 year-old Taunton youngster Teigan Ralls found out her grandfather had been diagnosed with the disease, she decided to take action – and got her whole school in on her grand scheme to raise money.

Everyone at Cheddon Fitzpaine Primary School came together to hold a sponsored walk after Teigan had written to her teachers with the idea.

The aim now is to send all the sponsor money raised to Bristol Hospital Oncology Centre as a thank you for treating her grandfather, Leslie Webber.

The school’s deputy head, Nick Arnold, said: “About a month ago we received a letter from Teigan to say ‘please, I’d like to raise some money for my grandad in the oncology unit in Bristol.’ It was so beautifully written, we said yes, let’s go for it.”

Grandad Leslie and Nanny Carolyne Webber, along with Teigan’s brother Toby and mum Sarah, joined staff and pupils to complete as many laps of the school field as they could in half an hour.

Bristol Hospital Oncology Centre even donated T-shirts for them to wear while taking their sponsored steps.

“I really wanted to do something to raise money for the oncology unit, for helping my grandad,” said Teigan.

“My grandad was really proud, and my mum was really impressed.”

Nanny Carolyne said: “What Teigan did was just so wonderful, and we were just so proud of her, because she did it all on her own.”

So far the total raised from pupils’ laps of the school field has topped £400, and is still rising as sponsorship rolls in.

Mr Webber discovered he had a brain tumour in January this year, and is currently undergoing radiotherapy treatment following an operation in February.

Yet despite it all he managed to complete two laps of the school field with Teigan by his side on the day of the walk.

On July 29 Teigan and her family will travel up to Bristol to present the final amount to the hospital’s Friends of Bristol Hospital Oncology Centre, a charity giving support to patients at the leading specialist centre.