John Ashman sleeping the streets of Dover, Folkestone, Canterbury, Margate and Ramsgate for Kelly Turner
Published: 18:00, 23 January 2017
Updated: 19:00, 23 January 2017
A fundraiser is sleeping rough for a week to help cancer girl Kelly Turner.
John Ashman has already endured sub-zero temperatures to raise £5,000 for the 16-year-old Dovorian who needs specialist treatment in America.
Mr Ashman spent Saturday and Sunday night in the doorway of the Bright House store in Biggin Street, Dover.
He is living on the streets day and night, also staying at Folkestone, Canterbury and Thanet, ending the stint at Dover at noon this Saturday .
He told the Mercury: “At times it has been -5C or -6C but what I am going through is nothing to what Kelly and her family are going through.
“While people are raising money for Kelly through events such as coffee mornings I wanted to come up with something differeent to keep up the interest.
“A vast amount of money is needed for her treatment.”
Mr Ashman, 50, of Dover, is keeping warm with five to six layers of clothing including thermals and using two sleeping bags.
He has provided daily live feeds on his own Facebook page and by this evening he had already raised 60% of his target, £3,005.
Donations were made electronically or by passers-by giving cash to a collection bucket.
This is only with him during the day when he has friends keeping him company and is taken away at night.
Some friends have spent the night with him, such as Shaun Joyce tonight in Folkestone town centre.
Mr Ashman will be in Canterbury tomorrow, Ramsgate on Wednesday and Margate on Thursday and returns to Dover for a last night on Friday.
Kelly has a rare form of cancer called desmoplastic round cell tumours, a type of sarcoma that affect only 30 teenagers a year worldwide.
She needs £1 million for full treatment, including immunotherapy, at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York.
But she will get the initial life-saving surgery once $500,000 ( just over £400,000) is raised. The sum raised by Monday evening according to her JustGiving page is £385,736.
To help Mr Ashman's effort donate here.
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