Representatives from Preston mosques today presented a cheque for £61,500 to the Rosemere Cancer Foundation.

The money will go towards the £100,000 cost of buying a new high definition imaging system that can help doctors get a clearer picture to pinpoint certain types of cancers at Royal Preston Hospital.

Iqbal Adam from the Preston Muslim Society said, “Thank you to all the Muslim community in the city of Preston for their generous donations. It is our duty to support the local hospital and the service they provide to all the communities.

“In 2015 we raised nearly £40,000 to assist lung cancer diagnosis and this year have managed to raise over £60,000 which was a great effort.

“A big thank you also to all the maddressas and nurseries who took part in the fundraising efforts.

“Thank you to the children from the Little Wonder nursery off Fishwick Parade who were very active this year.”

“Inshallah, we will be doing it again next year and assisting our local services that help all communities is something we are all very keen to do.”

The Preston mosques who helped with the fundraising included the Jamia Masjid, Masjid E Salaam, Quwwat-Ul-Islam , Madina Masjid, Masjid e Falah, Masjide Shahudaa, Masjid e Saliheen, Eldon Street Masjid, Masjide Quba and the Zakariyya Masjid based on Ribbleton Lane.

When the new system arrives in the next few weeks it will be used on a daily basis to support the care of patients facing surgery for gynaecological, colorectal and upper GI (upper gastrointestinal tract – oesophagus, stomach and first part of the small intestine) cancers.

It will enable doctors to examine inside patients’ bodies using a special HD laparoscope fitted with a tiny infrared camera.

Patients undergoing the procedure are first injected with a special fluorescent dye, which the camera can detect.

It is then able to relay accurate pictures of the affected area to a computer so doctors can determine the exact stage of the cancer (ie whether or not it has spread) and how deep it may have grown to help them plan surgery.

Sue Thompson Chief Officer at the Rosemere Cancer said: “We are extremely grateful for this very generous donation.

“Although the imaging system will be based here at the Royal Preston Hospital, it will benefit patients from throughout Lancashire and South Cumbria as the hospital is the specialist provider of colorectal, gynaecological and upper GI cancer surgery for the whole region.”

Mr Nick Wood, Consultant Gynaecological Oncologist and Chief Clinical Information Officer, who made the bid to Rosemere for the kit, explained, “The information the imaging system can supply will help us assess and stage a range of cancers to help prevent under or over treating patients.

“It can also be used in bowel cancer surgery, where a section of the intestine has to be removed because it is diseased.

"The images the system is capable of relaying will show us where best to rejoin the intestine in terms of the healthiest tissue to hopefully prevent any future complications.

"I believe it will greatly improve patient quality of life.”