A FORMER soap star has raised the £50,000 she needs for revolutionary treatment for terminal lung cancer in just one day.

Former Emmerdale star Leah Bracknell has hit her fundraising target for immunotherapy treatment in Germany in less than 24 hours after thousands of fans and wellwishers backed her campaign.

The 52-year-old mother-of-two, who lives in Storrington with her partner Jez Hughes, played Zoe Tate in the popular soap from 1989 to 2005.

In her fundraising appeal, she wrote: "Just over 5 weeks ago, I was feeling perfectly well, fit and healthy. Teaching yoga classes and workshops, it was a time of new beginnings: preparing to move house, youngest child fleeing the nest, and excited to be starting rehearsals for a comedy play, being back onstage, going on tour.

"But, it turns out that the universe had other plans. Life was about to be unexpectedly turned on its head."