LADIES toasted a special little girl with afternoon tea and raised £3,000 towards a campaign to save her life.

Rosie Veronica Mitchell is battling a deadly cancer for the third time and the community have rallied round to help her.

Her mum Donna-Louise Hurrell used the celebration at the Hibs Hall to officially launch Rosie's Fighting Fund.

She said: "All the ladies were very pretty and there was a good turnout.

"We had afternoon tea and pink and violet gins and raffles and I gave a speech at the start.

"I thanked everyone for coming along and for listening to Rosie's story and for helping to get the message out there.

"It was a good day for raising money and raising awareness."

The six-year-old lives with Donna-Louise and dad Ross Mitchell and twin brothers Dylan and Lucas in Kingston Dock.

Rosie was struck down with stage 4 neuroblastoma when she was only 15 months old and underwent 18 months of gruelling treatment and spent six months in hospital.

She needed surgery, high-dose chemotherapy, a stem cell transplant, radiotherapy and immunotherapy.

Rosie also suffered a brain haemorrhage, liver disease and has been left with a hearing impairment.

She was cancer free for two and a half years but it returned in November 2016 and she needed more treatment and a scan in April revealed that it was in her bones.

Rosie has recently undergone two rounds of chemotherapy and has suffered a bit of a setback after getting an infection.

It is not known what the future will hold as there is no set treatment for children who relapse and her parents are fundraising to send their daughter abroad.

Donna-Louise, 40, set up a Facebook book page in her name just to let everyone know how she is getting on and it quickly captured the imagination of the public.

The fund set now stands at an amazing £32,000 from donations pouring in from local fundraising events.

Donna-Louise said: "I can't believe it. The people of Inverclyde are so good. I just feel overwhelmed, I didn't think we would get this far."

After a tough couple of weeks Rosie is slowly recovering from her latest treatment.

Donna-Louise, a teacher, said: "She's doing alright, it took her a while to recover from the last dose of chemo so they reduced the dosage so she was able to tolerate it and she was a bit better with that.

"She's back to her wee cheeky self and she has been singing and dancing in posts on Facebook.

"In the next couple of weeks she'll hopefully receive another round and then scans in August to give us a bit of an idea of where we are, see if we've managed to get things under control and decide the best path forward."

Fundraising events are continuing over the next few weeks including Walk With Rosie, a sponsored trek from Cathcart Square in Greenock to the Gamble Halls in Gourock on August 26, leaving at 11.30am. There is a £10 entry fee.

The family are also members of the David Lloyd Club in Renfrew and the club is holding fitness day on August 15.