A KIND-hearted community has joined together to raise much-needed funds for the respite care of a popular teenager who continues to fight for her life in hospital.

A KIND-hearted community has joined together to raise much-needed funds for the respite care of a popular teenager who continues to fight for her life in hospital.

Deborah Parkes last month suffered multiple life threatening injuries when she was thrown through a brick wall after colliding with a van as she walked to work.

On Friday , her distraught family revealed she had contracted MRSA while at Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge, and had been moved to an isolation ward.

And now a group of truckers from the Red Lodge Café, where Deborah worked, have decided to raise money for the teenager to pay for her care after she leaves hospital.

Café manager Frieda Jones said: "One of the truckers decided to hold a truck pull at the end of the month to raise money for Deborah.

"We know it is going to be an awful long road to recovery for her and we want her to have the best care and physio money can buy.

"She is so popular at the café, she just bubbles with personality and has so much love to give."

Deborah's father Simon said the gesture showed how highly his daughter is regarded at the cafe.

"The whole family were quite flabbergasted, it was like a bolt out of the blue when the truckers said what they wanted to do for us," he told the EADT.

"The community spirit the truckers have is absolutely amazing - they are a community within themselves.

"It shows how popular and how highly thought of Deborah is among staff and customers, even more so than we realised."

Deborah, a former pupil at Newmarket Upper School, sustained a fractured pelvis, smashed ankle and severe leg and head injuries in the accident along Turnpike Road near her home in Red Lodge last month .

While her family revealed they were not expecting to be able to take her home until next Easter, doctors have said she will "almost certainly" have brain damage if she ever wakes up.

Now the truck drivers, constant visitors to the café, have decided to seek sponsorship before pulling two lorries through the village on December 27.

Staff at the cafe have also put together a scrapbook of cuttings and messages for Deborah's parents.

Mrs Jones said she hoped the community would support the fundraiser and invited villagers to take part in the truck pull.

She also hoped residents in her home village of West Row would support the truck pull and donate raffle prizes.

She added: "Shops in Mildenhall and the surrounding villages have been absolutely fantastic for giving prizes.

"Every shop I went to on Saturday was absolutely fantastic - everybody gave something and I would like to thank them all."

The truck pull will be held on December 27, at 1.30pm, ending at the Red Lodge Café.

Sponsorship forms are available at the café, where raffle prizes can also be donated or at Mrs Jones' home at 10 Eldo Gardens, West Row.