Children with cancer need your help - and you can give it by donating wool for toys

And all you have to do to make a difference is give a donation of wool.

The appeal has been made by Jo Owen who founded the Blue Light Babies group.

Its 7,000 members – including a huge contingency from Sunderland, Hartlepool and South Shields - are keen and talented knitters.

They make outfits for little toys which are called Chemo Ducks. These special ducks are given to children who are going through cancer and chemotherapy.

Chemo Ducks have their own IV lines and feeding tubes so that they look like they are going through the same process as the children they are given to, said Jo.

Members of Blue Light Babies play their part by making outfits for the chemo ducks and they make whatever outfit the child chooses. It could be anything from a princess costume to a superhero outfit or an animal to a school uniform.

Jo, who also works at Billingham ambulance station and has been a front line ambulance worker for 14 years, said: “We need double knitting wool and we need it in every colour. If we can get the wool to our members, they can get cracking.”

The group has knitted almost 3,000 outfits in the last 3 years and the impression they make is incredible.

Jo said: "If a child is diagnosed with cancer, they are given a duck which has an IV line and a feeding tube because it is a comfort and it trains the child in the experience of the chemo journey.

"We make the outfits from animals to princesses. We had one little boy who wanted his wrestling heroes.

"It makes that little bit of a difference. It calms down a fear that might have been there because a child can see that the duck is all dressed up like a superhero.”

To make a donation of wool, email [email protected], contact the Blue Light Babies group on Facebook, or write to Blue Light Babies, PO Box 1053, Stockton On Tees, TS19 1XW.