Girl in 'aquathalon' to help friend with leukaemia

Ellawyn, on the yellow paddle board, was joined by her friends for the start at Hayle Beach

An 11-year-old girl from Cornwall has set herself a gruelling physical challenge of raising some money for her best friend who has leukaemia.

Ellawyn is raising money for her friend Annie, who has T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, a rare blood cancer that is fast-growing and starts in the bone marrow and spreads.

Ellawyn had the idea of paddle-boarding 4km (2.5 miles) from Hayle Beach to Gwithian, swimming 1.5km (0.9 miles) to Godrevy and running 4.5km (2.8 miles) from Godrevy back to Hayle, and repeating what she has called her "aquathalon" over three consecutive days.

She said: "It will be hard but it's nothing compared to what Annie is going through at the moment."

Ellawyn said: "I'm in the sea all the time and I reckon I can do it"

"I reckon the run back will be the hardest for me because I'll have done a board and a swim before it, so I reckon I'll struggle with that bit," she said.

However, at the end of day one on Tuesday, Ellawyn had returned to Hayle in record time in about two hours.

A target of £500 was initially set by Ellawyn to buy Annie some craft materials and art lessons to keep her mind busy while undergoing chemotherapy, but the fundraiser has already received more than £7,000.

She visited Annie, who lives in Essex, at the weekend.

She said: "She's on a two-week chemo break, so it was possible for me to see her on Sunday.

"She's still got her funny personality.

"Our parents knew each other from high school, so I have known her my whole life and we bonded very well."

Annie has been willing Ellawyn on and said she was looking forward to seeing the videos

Ellawyn's father Dan said: "We are so proud of her. It was all her own idea and she just wanted to do something special for her friend, raise some money and make a difference.

"I think probably the swim will be the hardest leg for her, but she's a tough little cookie, so she'll fight her way through and just keep going."

Her mother Ria said: "This support from the locals and other people has been amazing.

"What she is going to do is very hard, and it is over three days, but we are super super proud of her, all of the family are."