Wall signed by One Direction in charity auction
[gallery] A wall signed by One Direction is being auctioned off to help fund cancer treatment for a Midlands youngster – and bidding has reached more than £5,000 in the first 24 hours of the sale.
Wolverhampton's Liam Payne and his bandmates signed a wall at Free Radio when they visited the city.
With the station set to move to a new base in Oldbury within the next couple of weeks, bosses have decided to auction off the brickwork. They will be raising money to provide cancer treatment for four-year-old Kelli Smith, who was diagnosed with neuroblastoma aged just three months.
Bid on the One Direction wall on eBay here
She is currently in remission but after relapsing last year, she had to have surgery to remove three tumours. Doctors say she has a high chance of being struck with cancer again, so her family have launched a fundraising appeal for specialist treatment, which is currently available in America and Germany, but is not on offer by the NHS in England.
Kelli's father, Tom Attwater, who is from originally from Pattingham, is terminally ill battling a brain tumour.
The section of wall signed by One Direction is cut out to be auctioned for charity.
He said: "I think it is a fantastic gesture by Free Radio to help raise much-needed funds to help Kelli. I need to make sure that when I'm gone Kelli has the same opportunity as other children."
The 70cm square section of wall has created a bidding war on Ebay, with the price reaching £5,200. Donations to the Kelli Smith Appeal can be made at justgiving.com/helpkelli, or by texting STOP60 followed by an amount between £1 and £10 to 70070.
Mr Attwater added: "If you run a pub or a shop please contact us if we could put collection tins in your premises to help Kelli, and if anyone wants to do a sponsored event to help my little girl please email me at tomatt4444@gmail.com."
