A KITCHEN and interiors firm has raised more than £6,000 for Freddie Thompson through completion of the gruelling Coast to Coast challenge.

Thirsk-based Grove House Kitchen and Interiors said a team of cyclists managed to complete the 140-mile challenge from Whitehaven, Cumbria to Tynemouth in around 11 hours.

They raised the money for Freddie Thompson, 3, of Ampleforth in North Yorkshire, who was diagnosed with a stage four neuroblastoma cancer in September last year.

Since then, he has undergone chemotherapy sessions, a ten-hour operation to remove his tumour, radiotherapy and a blood transfusion. He has since started immunotherapy treatment.

On Saturday, April 27, a team of eight Noel Clough, Aran Hunter, Mat Wight, Mark Dowson, Pete Wilkin, Mile Scatchard, Mark Caldecott and Mark Horner took part and completed the challenge.

After four weeks of further campaigning and totting up, Mark Horner managing director of Grove House Kitchen and Interiors said they had raised £6,040.

He said: “After months of training, we are all so proud of what we have achieved. This is something we’ve never done before and has given us the opportunity to come together as a team, for a cause close to our hearts. Based in Thirsk, our family-run business has been trading since 1974, we feel very much part of the community and are thankful to all who have supported us and donated to this worthy cause – we couldn’t have done it without you.”

Before the team had even completed the Coast to Coast, around £2,600 had been raised through sponsorship and donors.

At the time, Mr Horner said: "This is the first time we’ve done anything like this. We're doing it to give him a fighting chance – usually people do it in three or four days but we are aiming to do the Coast to Coast in one day. People just keep chipping away, before you know it – it will only be £30,000 he needs."

In an update on Thursday, Freddie's Fight said the young boy had suffered a reaction to his immunotherapy. His aunt Gillian Thompson said: "Freddie started his immunotherapy on Tuesday and it was meant to last ten days but on his second dose he went into anaphylactic shock and is currently in intensive care. It's heartbreaking for his parents – they are speaking to specialists about what this means for his treatment, because if he is allergic to something in the immunotherapy drugs he won't be able to continue." The treatment has only just become available on the NHS.