A hospital which the Argus helped save from closure is celebrating a cash boost of almost £150,000 after getting a donation from a former patient.

A former head injury patient has left £140,000 to the Hurstwood Park League of Friends, Haywards Heath.

The money, plus more than £7,000 collected by another former patient, will be spent on the Hurstwood Park Neurological Centre, which looks after the victims of brain injury and their families and carers.

Hospital chiefs are not revealing any details about the woman who left the big windfall, other than the fact she was treated there about ten years ago.

Brian Gubbin, chairman of the friends, said senior staff at the hospital were "amazed" by the gift.

"This is the biggest amount of money ever left to the friends. It came out of the blue and it will be extremely useful.

"We will be talking to the hospital to see how to put it to best use."

Brighton hairdresser Jimmy Richardson raised £7,313.75 for the hospital by decorating his house last Christmas and arranging a recent dinner at Topolino Duo, Hove.

Mr Richardson, whose salon is in Edward Street, had a brain tumour the size of an orange removed by a surgeon at Hurstwood Park two years ago.

He said: "Without Hurstwood Park, I would be either a cabbage or dead. The surgeon, Peter Ward, took the growth off the brain and saved my life.

"I want to pay them back. Everyone was very generous and it shows what they think of Hurstwood Park. The will also shows how important Hurstwood Park is to people."

Hurstwood Park is the only centre of its kind in Sussex and helps people with brain and nerve disorders, including victims of crashes.

Its supporters joined with the Argus and the Newick-based Headway Hurstwood Park charity to fight off attempts to send patients to London instead.

More than 300,000 people signed the Argus-sponsored petition, the biggest response to any campaign in the paper's history.