A SCHOOLGIRL is to lace up her boots for a Yorkshire Dales trek to raise money for the youth group that helped her deal with her father's cancer diagnosis.

Fifteen-year-old Morgan Allington-Moore hopes to raise £300 on her sponsored 9.3 mile walk from Horton-in-Ribblesdale to Ingleborough, on Saturday, July 20.

"The reason I have chosen to do this sponsored walk is because it's coming up to a year since my dad was diagnosed with cancer," explained the Carnforth teenager on her fundraising page.

"Thankfully after months and months of hard-hitting treatment he is now slowly recovering."

While her dad Christopher was being treated for throat cancer, Morgan received therapy and counselling from CancerCare and joined the charity's ReFresh peer support group.

"I heard about the ReFresh group through school and was told it was a good way to talk about the things I was going through and also to get one-to-one therapy," said Morgan, a student at Carnforth High School.

“My other friends can’t really relate to what it’s like to have someone in your family dealing with cancer. Everyone here understands what it’s like and it’s easier to open up.”

After six months of chemotherapy and radiotherapy, Morgan’s dad has finished his treatment but she still looks forward to the group’s weekly sessions where she enjoys activities such as art sessions, video games or simply chatting to her friends.

She said the group had enabled her to help other people, and she has told some of her schoolfriends about the benefits of seeking help at difficult times. “It has been a long road but I still really look forward to going to the group," said Morgan.

"My message to anyone who is dealing with serious illness, either themselves or in their families, is to come along and give it a try. I have found it so helpful to have people around you who know what you are going through.”

The youth group is run by experienced youth worker Lou Andrews and qualified counsellor Georgie Whittle, and has around seven regular members aged up to 19. It builds on CancerCare's children and young people’s service which provides therapy and support to youngsters and teens who have experienced bereavement, who have cancer or a life-limiting condition either themselves or in their family.

"Young people can attend this group for as long as they want to and get involved in planning activities and trying out new group therapies to help us develop our services for teenagers," said group leader Lou.

“Although we are a small group we are growing steadily and we are looking forward to our summer programme which has activities ranging from quad biking to meditating with horses."

If you would like to donate to Morgan's appeal, visit www.justgiving.com/fundraising/morgan-allington-moore

To find out more about the ReFresh group, which meets every Wednesday from 6.15pm to 7.30pm, see www.cancercare.org.uk/how-we-can-help/children-young-peoples-service