"Magical moment we never dreamed could come true" - Rugby woman fulfils dying wish of raising £100,000 to help improve lives of cancer patients

A Rugby woman who was given a life expectancy of five years after being diagnosed with breast cancer in 2013, has smashed her dying wish of raising £100,000 to help other people with the disease.

Tracie Mills and her devoted team of Arden Angels originally set out to raise £1,000 to buy new chairs for the Arden Centre at University Hospital Coventry.

Led by Tracie, who said her prognosis is now ‘very poor’, the fundraising snowballed into something much bigger.

A whole community was born, all wanting to get behind Tracie to help her hit her target.

Money has now been donated to the Arden Centre and for cancer services at Rugby’s Hospital of St Cross.

They have skydived, danced, held fancy dress pub crawls, bingo nights and glider stunts to pull in the pounds.

The target is now well past the £100k mark.

Tracie said: "Hearing we had smashed the target was a magical moment we never dreamed could come true.”

Jo O’Sullivan, UHCW Charity director, said: “Tracie and her team of Arden’s Angels are an inspiration. Tracie has not let cancer stop her.”

“Tracie has incurable cancer and continues to receive palliative treatment, yet has spent so much precious time raising funds for our charity to help fellow cancer patients – thank you just isn’t enough.”

Tracie lives in hope that the legacy of Arden Angels continues for many years to come.

Feature on ‘Strictly Pink’ evening to follow soon.