A TRACK day at Castle Combe Circuit last Thursday raised £5,250 for the Royal United Hospital’s Forever Friends appeal.

Maria Fisher, the circuit’s sales coordinator, was shocked to discover in 2013 she had a cancerous tumour on her lung.

Mrs Fisher, 50, was a keen runner and had done the Chippenham Half Marathon just two years before.

Faced with cancer, she unfortunately had to have her whole right lung removed. So when she was asked by Christopher Darwin, the track day organiser, to choose a local charity to benefit, she chose Forever Friends.

She said: “I wanted to give something back to the RUH for all their help and support as this was quite a shock, being a non-smoker who always did lots of keep fit.”

The Forever Friends Appeal aims to raise £8.5m to build a new state-of-art cancer centre at the Bath hospital which is hoped to be open by 2018.

Last year's track day at Castle Combe also raised more than £4,000 for the appeal. Track days give drivers the opportunity to experience speed in their own cars in a controlled environment, at one of the longest established motor circuits in the UK.

Last week the passenger rides alone, giving people the chance to ride in a car of their dreams, raised a record £500.

But Mrs Fisher is not stopping there. Despite easily getting breathless now she has just one lung, she is giving herself the challenge of doing the 5km Race For Life in Bath in June.

She said: “I have entered and am determined to finish and even try to run as well as walk.

“I can’t believe how generous everyone has been so far as these are donations from work colleagues, customers who hire track and family.”

Over £800 has already been donated for Cancer Research UK at www.justgiving.com/mariafisher/