TWO sisters have made a heart-warming gesture to a mum-of-two who is battling cancer by asking their friends to give donations to her instead of buying them birthday presents.

Weronika and Zofia Nowakowska held a joint birthday party at the Fairfield and Howley Neighbourhood Project on Sunday, September 16.

The former turned five in August, while Zofia is set to celebrate her fourth birthday in October.

But the youngsters asked party attendees not to buy them birthday presents, and to instead give money to Kirsty Mcdonald – the Orford mum who has been diagnosed with cervical cancer for a third time.

Kirsty, 26, needs to raise £40,000 so that she can undergo vital treatment.

Mum Ewa, also from Orford, said: “Both of the girls’ birthdays are quite close together, and we always hold a joint party for them.

“We definitely don’t need any more toys – we’re already running out of space – so we asked all the people coming to the party not to buy them a present, and to instead give a donation to Kirsty.

“There are two little girls whose mum is very ill, and we want to help them to get their mummy better.”

Weronika and Zofia Nowakowska raised a total of £425 for Kirsty by forgoing their birthday presents, having organised the party themselves.

Ewa added: “Hopefully it will be a nice gesture for Kirsty, and she will know that she has our love and support.

“Kirsty is so thankful – I think she was shocked that we’d come up with the idea, and she sent me a lovely message saying how grateful she is.

“It was nice for her to take the time to reply to me, because she’s got a lot going on.

“This is a real person with real problems in our community, and we need to come together to help her.

“She is within our reach, standing in front of us and we need to help her now.”