TOM and Georgina Hathaway's "gorgeous" daughter Jane would have been 30 at the end of this month.

But, tragically, Jane did not live beyond the age of 10 after losing a two-year battle against leukaemia in 1985.

Now, her loving parents, of Old Market Street, Usk, are devoted to helping the LATCH charity that provides care and support to victims of the disease and their relatives - and have been nominated for our charity champion award.

Their motive for raising more than £100,000 for the charity is simple - to help other families going through the agony of seeing their child suffering.

It is an agony the Hathaway's have seen and felt, and it is what continues to drive them to help.

Georgina, 57, a cleaner for Monmouthshire council, said: "If it hadn't been for people like us doing things like this Jane would not have lived those two extra years.

"Raising money helps provide proper care and clinics."

The Hathaways, who have two sons, David, 35, and Matthew, 32, are always looking for ways to raise money, enlisting the help of a group of close friends and attending car boot sales and selling hand-made crafts at fetes.

Each year they take the money they have raised through the Jane Hathaway Fund to the charity and discuss how they wish it to be used.

Their money has helped fund research, buy new equipment and increase levels of care to give other families more time with their loved ones. Georgina said: "It's very important to help the families.

"We've been there and know the effect it can have on the family. "If we can help just one it makes a big difference."

Tom, 62, who works as a caretaker at the Church in Wales Primary School, Usk, said: "It's very hard for families, but doing this charity work means Jane is still with us.

"If she was still here she would be helping the charity. "She was the type of girl who would have had a go at anything."

The Hathaways were nominated as joint charity champions by Anne Sterry, of Melyn Bach Avenue, Little Mill, near Pontypool, a former nursery teacher at the school where Tom works.

She said: "They are a fantastic family and they do wonders for charity. "If you want something done they are the ones to ask. They are heroes to so many."