Teenager raised £20k for special unit at Yorkhill

Elaine Davidson, 18, passed away on Tuesday in Glasgow's Western Infirmary.

She had developed pneumonia and doctors told her heartbroken family she would not recover, and they agreed to switch off her life-support machine.

Elaine raised the massive sum for the Teenage Cancer Trust, which went towards a new specialist unit at Yorkhill Hospital.

As reported in the Evening Times, Elaine went to see the new six-bed £350,000 unit she helped plan and helped pay for when it was unveiled last month.

She was treated in the ward, which has a lounge area with kitchen and TV, briefly during her last illness at the weekend.

Today her mum Maureen, 45, paid tribute to Elaine, saying her family, including dad George and sister Nicola, 21, would remember her for her 'bravery and selflessness.'

She said: "We're really proud of everything she did and the way she dealt with her illness.

"Elaine made us so proud in everything she did despite what she was going through herself. She just always thought of other people.

"We're heartbroken."

The Baillieston teenager began to suffer severe bouts of sickness and a constant headache in summer 2006.

She was 15 and had just finished her Standard Grades at Bannerman High School but became so poorly she could not leave the house.

She was told by doctors, including medics at an out-of-hours clinic at Easterhouse Health Centre, she must have been pregnant.

Elaine was made to take pregnancy tests but staff at the Royal Infirmary finally gave her a scan, and in September 2006 they diagnosed a tumour the size of a golf ball in her head.

She was rushed to the Southern General and, two days later, surgeons removed the cancerous growth.

Elaine missed her fifth year at school as she battled the disease. She had chemotherapy for a year in the Schiehallion Ward at Yorkhill and radiotherapy at the Beatson West of Scotland Cancer Centre.

However, there was some relief from her gruelling treatment.

Fundraiser Les Hoey arranged for Elaine to meet her favourite pop band Westlife and X Factor judges Simon Cowell and Dannii Minogue.

She did go on to get the all-clear twice - but in August Elaine and her family were told her cancer was terminal.

Maureen said: "Elaine chose not to speak about it and we didn't have any more scans done.

"She took chemo tablets daily to prolong her life but she knew the tumour was always going to be there.

"She had been fine - she had shingles and it didn't bother her - but then she had a blood clot in her leg last Monday and was having daily injections.

"On Sunday she was really unwell and we thought it was a urinary infection or a chest infection.

"They took her to the Teenage Cancer Trust unit and then transferred her to Gartnavel and then the Western.

"She stayed there and she wasn't getting any better, so they said it would be better for Elaine to have the machine switched off."

Earlier this year Elaine was named a beauty queen for her fundraising.

She scooped nationwide Nivea Inner Beauty Award after being nominated by sister Nicola.

Earlier this month, in what was to be her last fundraising event, Elaine raised £6,000 by holding a Hallowe'en fancy dress party at Baillieston's Robert Burns Masonic Hall.

Real Radio DJ Paul Harper turned up for the night, which included an auction of football memorabilia.

Elaine dressed up as a ragdoll, while her dad George went as Zorro, sister Nicola transformed into Lady Gaga and her mum Maureen was Ugly Betty.

Elaine's sister Nicola said: "I'm so proud of her and we'll miss her."

Elaine's funeral will be held on Saturday at 11.20am at St Andrew's Church in Baillieston.

One of the songs chosen by her family for the service is Eric Clapton's Tears In Heaven.

Dawn Crosby, head of Fundraising for the Teenage Cancer Trust in Scotland, said: "Elaine was a remarkable young woman, who touched the lives of everyone she met.

"Her tireless fundraising and support of Teenage Cancer Trust was inspiring to us all.

"Elaine was actively involved in the planning of our new unit at Yorkhill and we are glad she was able to see the finished product."