A MEETING with Professor Stephen Hawking has left Soham fund-raiser Liam Fairhurst feeling inspired. Liam met with Professor Hawking, who suffers from Motor Neurone Disease, in July when he going through a rough patch and finding it difficult to eat and

A MEETING with Professor Stephen Hawking has left Soham fund-raiser Liam Fairhurst feeling inspired.

Liam met with Professor Hawking, who suffers from Motor Neurone Disease, in July when he going through a "rough patch" and finding it difficult to eat and sleep.

Liam's dad Mark said the meeting, at which Professor Hawking's daughter Lucy was also present, proved to be a turning point for Liam.

"Professor Hawkins is a remarkable man who despite his own disabilities has achieved extraordinary things when others would have perhaps turned their faces to the wall," said Mark. "He is one of Liam's idols and so as you can imagine meeting him was very special for him. Liam had been going through a rough patch and wasn't eating or sleeping very well which in turn meant he had lost quite a bit of weight but talking to Professor Hawkin helped him to see that no matter what your disability if you have belief and determination you can do anything.

"Since meeting him, Liam has put on weight and is sleeping better. We as a family are extremely grateful to Professor Hawkin for giving up his time to see Liam and inspiring him."

Liam took his best friend Liam Harlow with him to meet Professor Hawkin.

"Liam has been great support and tower of strength for our Liam," said Mark.

Mark also said that the Liam was "doing well" and had returned to school at the start of the summer term.

WHAT YOU CAN DO

* Make a donation to Liam's Fund. Make cheques payable to CLIC Sargent, but send to the Ely Standard at 38 Market Street, Ely, Cambs, CB7 4LS.

* Organise a fund-raising event at your school, workplace or club. Let us know the details, and we will help promote on the event and publish photos if we can.

You can also send Liam a message at: www.elystandard.co.uk

WHAT IS LIAM'S FUND

Liam Fairhurst is 12 years old and is a pupil at Soham Village College. In the summer of 2005 he was diagnosed with cancer. He was successful, but in February of this year a routine scan revealed that the cancer had returned. Throughout his treatment, Liam has been an inspirational and tireless fund-raiser for the CLIC Sargent children's cancer charity. He set himself a £100,000 target and managed to smash this a few weeks ago. The Ely Standard wants to help Liam and the CLIC Sargent charity to raise as much money as possible.

WITCHFORD resident and running enthusiast David King has raised More than £1,000 for Liam's Fund.

Mr King, 37, started running a year and a half ago and completed Grunty Fen Half Marathon on Sunday in a time of two hours two minutes. When he saw Liam on television, he decided to donate all his sponsorship money to CLIC Sargeant.

"It was quite tough because of the warm weather, but definitely worth it," said Mr King. If you would like to donate to Mr King's fund, which stands at £1105, you can do so for the next month at www.justgiving.com/kingsrun .

ELY'S Star Radio has been recognised for its charity work with a £1000 donation to Liam's Fund.

The Cambridgeshire station was awarded a Social Initiative Action award for a fund-raising event called Liam's Mile. Judges of the annual National Arqiva Radio awards said the fund-raising was an outstanding example of a local station responding to a specific request from Liam.

Mark Peters, who has been fund-raising for CLIC Sargeant on his breakfast show since August 2006, said: "It's thanks to Liam that all this has happened. He communicates in such a mature way and is a genuinely nice lad. We went down to London to receive the award, and got £1,000 for a charity of our choice. Of course there was no question it would be Liam's Mile."

Mr Peters said the fund-raising started with a £2,000 target but since Christmas, the public has got on board, and funds now total0 £117,000.