A farrier hopes to help pay for a new prosthetic limb for a teenager who suffered with bone cancer by embarking on a 24-hour carriage drive.

Dad-of-one Alan Coe, who specialises in horse hoof care and runs his own commercial carriage driving business, wants to raise thousands of pounds to improve 16-year-old Olivia Coughlan’s life.

Olivia, who lives with her dad Paul, mum Debbie and brother Jordan in Witham Road, Black Notley, decided to allow doctor’s to amputate her left leg in November, along with her pelvis, hip and sacrum, after she was diagnosed with a cancerous bone tumour in her pelvis.

The horse riding fan underwent an intensive 30-week course of chemotherapy but had to take drastic action, which now means she is cancer-free, after the course failed to shrink the tumour.

Family friend Mr Coe, who has shod Olivia’s family’s horses for 12 years, was touched by her strength and determination and wanted to complete a challenge to raise funds.

See this week's Braintree and Witham Times for the full story.