Surgery is to be performed next month on Robbie Dillon, from Clondalkin in Dublin, who has a very rare life-threatening form of cancer. The type of surgery he needs is only available in Toronto, Canada. Over the past 11 years he has received all the recognised forms of medical treatment, but the location of tumours above his palette has made continual surgery extremely dangerous. Recently, however, a Canadian surgeon spoke at a Dublin conference about a new surgical technique that can access such areas of the head more safely.

His friends, on behalf of his wife Paula and his two young sons, Robert and Steven, aim to raise £60,000 to enable him to avail of the new technique in Toronto before the end of October. A number of fundraising events have already been planned, but in the meantime any contribution, no matter how small, will be of great value. Donations to TSB, Clondalkin Branch No 99-06-17, Account No 00379321.