A Sutton woman suffering terminal cancer has had an amazing response after she decided to fundraise for two charities who have been “absolutely wonderful” to her.

Tracy Earl, 51, from North Cheam, was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in June of last year. She underwent a seven-hour operation at St George’s Hospital and after chemotherapy, for a while it seemed she was out of the woods.

Soon after going into remission she and her family received the news; Tracy’s cancer had “come back with a vengeance”. Although she had more sessions of chemo, she was told it was not working.

At just 51, she is living out the rest of her time in a hospice.

Tracy was treated at the South East Cancer Help Centre in Purley and now she is staying at St Raphael’s Hospice Cheam.

Her mum Jan Whitfield said: “Tracy wanted to fundraise for them because have been so wonderful to her and they depend on donations.”

Tracy worked for Lloyd’s bank in Sutton for 34 years and the bank organised a fundraising day on December 1 over the entire of its south east region.

The bank also decided to double the money collected- which in one day reached more than £10,000.

And it’s no surprise; Tracy is a much loved and appreciated person.

Sutton branch manager Natasha Britt said most of the time “it’s difficult to hold back the tears” when people ask how she is.

She said: “She’s loved and respected by all her colleagues and customers.

“It still doesn’t seem real; we are devastated.

“She’s had a huge amount of support because we care about her so much.

“When she told us the cancer had come back and the chemo would stop in six months… it’s just so difficult for everyone.

“All the staff embraced the fundraising day.

“There’s not much you can give someone who is terminally ill, but she was so happy with this.

“When we showed her the cheque her face lit up.

“She was really humbled by it but this whole thing is down to her.”

Mum Jan said the kindness and generosity shown from the public was “amazing”.

She said: “One man in the Banstead branch bought 50 raffle tickets, won the prize, then refused to take it and said they should raffle it again.”

Jan, who is trying to keep busy during this time, said that although it’s such a sad situation, “at least something good as come from it”.

She said: “It needs to come out how wonderful people have been.”

With regards to her daughter she said: “We are a very close family.

“When she dies I don’t know what will happen.

“I can’t protect my family from that.”

Both charities will now receive more than £10,000 each.

Sarah-Jane Wood, director of communications and fundraising at St Raphael's Hospice, said: “We are absolutely delighted to receive such a generous gift.

“It will go such a long way to funding the hospice.

“More than 1,000 patients a year pass through our door.

“We are really grateful to Tracy and all her colleagues at Lloyds.”

SECHC Chairman, Jennifer Mollett, said: “We would like to thank everyone at Lloyds for raising such an amazing amount of money for our centre.

“We were delighted when we discovered that Tracy had chosen us as one of her charities as SECHC does not receive any government funding and therefore donations like this are very important to us.

“Our volunteers, like Jan, ensure that that we keep our overheads to a minimum but running the centre costs over £200,000 a year and the money raised by Lloyds will help us to continue to provide much needed support to cancer patients and their carers.”

Victoria Brehaut, Local Director, south London and Surrey, Lloyds Bank, said: “We were very committed to supporting Tracy and her family and to do something positive for both charities.

“I’m really proud to work for a company that responded so quickly to help raise these funds. It shows that our customers and colleagues really care.”