Billie Ware started fund-raising after her heart broke seeing sick children when she paid a visit to hospital.

After several years successfully raising money for youngsters with life-limiting illnesses, she herself suffered a series of personal tragedies which stopped her quest.

She nursed first her mother, then her father, through cancer, sadly losing them both. And Mrs Ware, 49, was hit with her own diagnosis of breast cancer.

But now Mrs Ware, of Lockleaze, has raised more than £1,000 for a Whitchurch teenager to swim with dolphins in Florida.

Tara, 13, has a degenerative condition which causes severe physical disability and is the latest in a long line of youngsters to benefit from Mrs Ware's tireless efforts.

In all Mrs Ware has raised more than £35,000 since 1993 for the national charity Dreams Come True, whose mission is to fulfil the most treasured dreams of seriously ill children.

Mrs Ware said: "I started fundraising because when I was in Bristol Royal Infirmary with my daughter Paula.

"There were sick children coming in and out and I just felt there must be something that I could do for them... Later I heard about Dreams Come True and raised money through a pub auction and collecting around local pubs to send a couple of boys who both had leukaemia up in a plane. From there, it just snowballed."

But in 1999 Mrs Ware's own life was directly affected by serious illness. First her mother was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer and Mrs Ware herself was diagnosed with breast cancer.

Having nursed her mother through her final days and battled her own cancer, Mrs Ware's father was also diagnosed with liver, lung and bone cancer and died last year.

Mrs Ware, who is in remission, said: "It certainly gives you a different perspective on life. I had to give up the fundraising to look after Mum at home until she died in July 2000."

She said the experience made her determined to continue fundraising, but then she and then her father were diagnosed with cancers of their own.

"Again it made me determined to get back to fundraising because I just had to do something for other people.

"I got back in touch with Dreams Come True and got going again.

"I'm delighted Tara will get her dream and hope that I'll be able to raise loads more money in the future to help lots of other children.

"Putting a smile on a child's face in their short life is rewarding beyond anything you can imagine.

"I'm going to carry on fundraising until I am 6ft under. It gives me such a buzz."

She added: "I want to say a huge thank you to everyone who has supported me."