Nine-year-old cerebral palsy patient is guest of honour at unveiling of Co-op revamp – Nottingham Post

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A courageous nine-year-old who is battling cerebral palsy was given the special honour of officially unveiling a revamped store in her home town.

Kareena Hayes hit the headlines in February after thieves stole a cafe's charity box set up to raise money towards a 10,000 target for life-changing private treatment at Queen's Medical Centre, to help her walk.

But within days, the youngster was smiling again after an anonymous businessman heard of her plight and stumped up the money to pay for the operation.

Now Kareena, a pupil of Longmore Primary School, in Long Eaton, has been given another boost after she and her fellow pupils helped to cut the ribbon and declare the new-look Co-op store in the town's Grasmere Road officially open, following a 600,000 refurbishment.

As well as inviting Kareena and her classmates to be guests of honour, the store has also launched a fundraising appeal for Kareena, to help towards the appeal set up by her family for the operation and additional costs including for physiotherapy afterwards.

Kareena's father, Craig Hammond, 39, who is her full-time carer and also dad to Nathan, 11, said: "It's great that we've had a lot of support from the community. Kareena's after-care will be ongoing and the costs could be endless.

"She's had a lovely day - she really enjoyed it and she's happy with all the support. We'd just like to thank everybody."

The youngster's classmates have also rallied round her, helping to raise money.

Susan Dainty, headteacher at the school, said: "The pupils all really enjoyed it - they had a great time. The Co-op really looked after them and they had an Easter egg hunt and had chocolate, making them feel really special.

"The fact the Co-op is agreeing to help Kareena is really fantastic and very generous of them. One of the staff members said they were hoping to see if they can get all the local stores involved in raising money for Kareena.

"We have done some fundraising at school and raised a little bit ourselves to support her physiotherapy, through the children's enterprise fair. They worked hard."

The new-look store is open between 6am and 10pm, and has a focus on fresh, healthy foods, meal ideas, award-winning wines, hot food and essentials.

Store manager Trevor Dancer said he and his colleagues were looking forward to welcoming the local community into the store and that they were thrilled to have made such a significant investment in Long Eaton.

He added: "We are really happy to be open - the public are really excited about it.

"We are hoping to raise money for Kareena's physiotherapy and hopefully involve some of the other local Co-op shops to increase fundraising. It's about helping the community, which is what we are all about."

Mr Dancer added that shoppers can become a co-owner and member of their Co-op, and by swiping their membership card when they shop, they can raise much-needed funds for good causes like Kareena.

The store also brings a funding boost for local good causes through its new membership scheme - members receive a five percent reward on purchases of own-branded products and services, with a further one percent going directly to local causes to make a difference in the community.

There will be offers and promotions in and around the new-look store to mark its launch and students in Long Eaton holding an NUS extra card receive a 10 percent discount off their groceries.

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Nine-year-old cerebral palsy patient is guest of honour at unveiling of Co-op revamp - Nottingham Post