AN OPERA star was on hand yesterday to help launch a new awards ceremony to recognise the struggles of children in the North West with brain tumours.

Russell Watson, who had emergency surgery for a brain tumour in 2007, hit the right note at the Dunkenhalgh Hotel, in Clayton-le-Moors, yesterday in support of The Katy Holmes Trust North West Pride Awards.

The awards have been set up by Paula and David Holmes from Preston, who lost their 10-year-old daughter Katy to a brain tumour in 2012, three months after her diagnosis.

She was treated with radiotherapy, a course of treatment that has not changed since the 1960s, with the type of condition only receiving 0.71 per cent of cancer funding from central government each year.

The event will be held on Saturday, November 21, 2015, with money raised on the night and from sponsors being donated to The Brain Tumour Charity.

Mr Watson, who is the trust’s patron, said: “I have a real affinity with these types of events and working with people who I consider to be magic and inspirational.

“I have never met a couple as inspirational and as driven to a project as I have with Paula and David. They are absolutely inspirational.

“They did not crawl into a corner and forget about life, they have done the opposite.

“They have put together this drive to find money and research into the number one killer of children in the UK.

“We are hoping that we get a high amount of support for this project.

“The ceremony will give the children something that they will never ever forget and will be a brief respite from their daily routine of being very poorly.”

Paula said: “In two years we have raised £500,000 and we could not possibly have done that without the fantastic people in the North West. t would be great if we could all join together and say thank you to the medical professionals and fundraisers who work so hard.”

Visit: www.northwstprideawards.co.uk