A FATHER who lost his baby girl to an aggressive form of cancer has thanked the public for its generous support after a foundation set up in her name reached its initial £100,000 target.

Little Poppy-Mai Barnard, from Infirmary, Blackburn, was 17-months-old when she succumbed to a progressive malignant tumour which she had fought against for 10 weeks.

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The Poppy-Mai Foundation was set up by parents Andy and Sammi with the aim or raising awareness of rare child cancers and securing a site where sick children could stay with their family in need of respite.

To achieve that aim Mr Barnard set an initial fundraising target of £100,000, which they have managed to secure in four months. And now Mr Barnard said he wants to increase that to £1million and take the foundation’s work across the globe.

Mr Barnard said: “We are overwhelmed by hitting the target so quickly. I’d like to thank everyone for their incredible support and it really does show that we are stronger together.

“We are not going to stop fundraising. I would like to take it up to £1million but I am not going to set a deadline on that. That’s a target for the charity as we move forward. We have already got global support. I’d like to think we have the right template now to replicate it across the world.”

Mr Barnard said the foundation is looking to buy a plot of land in the Ribble Valley and he would be writing to councillors in the area to garner support before a planning application went in.

Once the land and planning is secured the foundation would then build huts for families to stay in. The first three will be named after Mr Barnard’s children Poppy-Mai, Rylee and Jenson-Jay.

Mr Barnard said: “It cost me and my wife a lot of money to make memories with Poppy-Mai and although that’s something you can never put a price on, we want this to be a place families can make memories for free.”

The foundation is applying for charity status and plans are in place to create an online store.

The foundation is planning a children’s talent show on October 23 and is asking dance schools and music schools to register their interest in attending.

It will be held in Blackburn.