SWIMMERS have raised money in memory of local girl Holly Deegan, who died of one of the rarest heart conditions in the world earlier this year.

Parents and children of Fauvic Kindergarten Swimming Club, in Grouville, raised £250 in a charity raffle and bring-and-buy sale. The money will go towards the purchase of a new heart scanner for Great Ormond Street Hospital for children.

Organiser Heather Uwins said that four-year-old Holly’s tragic death in February touched them all. She said: ‘The money will go towards a new dual source CT scanner at the Heart and Lung centre at Great Ormand Street Hospital. ‘They are now planning to launch a new appeal, with research at the heart of their fundraising efforts.’

Holly’s illness was so rare that only six other similar cases have been diagnosed worldwide. The four-year-old, who lived at La Benefice, St Clement, died at the General hospital. Mrs Uwins added: ‘I have met with Holly’s mother, Mrs Deegan, to let her know about the new scanner and she is happy for the money to go there.

‘I would like to thank all of the parents who helped to raise money and to the children who donated all their old toys. Samarés School, where Holly was a pupil, also donated money towards the scanner.’

The new scanner, the only one of its kind installed in a children’s hospital anywhere in the world, will scan children’s heart and blood vessels safely and more accurately than ever before.

The Great Ormond Street Hospital Charity is supporting several projects that will transform the way children with heart conditions are treated at the hospital. It will help them to offer some of the sickest children safer and less invasive heart surgery.

If anyone would like to contact Mrs Uwins for further details about the new scanner, she can be contacted on 852678.

• Picture: Heather Uwins pictured in the pool with Matthew Davidson (4) Hanna logan (2) Kelly Summer (5) and Saskia Tye (4). Picture by Tony Pike (00603448)