Fundraising to support the family of a teenager in a critical condition after falling from her horse raised more than £3,000 in the first seven hours.

Holly Martin from Coverack fell while horse riding on April 12. She was airlifted to Bristol Children's Hospital and has been there ever since, with a serious brain injury.

Now the community of the Lizard Peninsula is rallying behind the 15-year-old Mullion School student and her family, to help with the expenses of travelling to and from the hospital and staying nearby, as her recovery could take up to a year.

A JustGiving page set up by Emily Priddis at www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/comeonhollypop more than tripled its £1,000 target in hours and the total is still rising.

The fundraising page explains: "As you all know Holly Martin is a young lady who is full of adventure! Sadly she recently took a fall that left her with a serious head injury and we are all left wondering what we can do to help Holly and her lovely family, Adam, Helen, Megan and George.

"Now many of you will know that as a family they have already spent too much time apart and travelling to and from hospitals. It is a stressful and expensive endeavour , which we’d all like to make a little easier.

"Many of you have asked what you can do to help so here it is. Please feel free to make a little contribution, or better still organise a fundraising event with Holly’s spirit as your inspiration, and take loads of photos so that when she’s feeling a bit better she can have a good laugh at us all."

Any leftover funds will be donated to The Grand Appeal, fundraising for Bristol Children's Hospital.

J M Grose & Son's Cornish Potatoes and Cornish Produce will be donating 50% of the takings from its next local delivery orders to the cause, while earlier this week, before the fundraising appeal was launched, the Trengilly Wartha Inn raised £500 for Cornwall Air Ambulance which airlifted Holly to hospital.

Holly Martin from Coverack is in a critical condition after a fall from her horse

Holly Martin from Coverack is in a critical condition after a fall from her horse

Holly's mum Helen thanked everybody who had already donated and was planning a fundraising event.

She told the Packet: "Her recovery up here could take up to a year, so this is the start of a very hilly marathon.

"She’s in a stable but critical condition. She's still under sedation, so we still have no idea how she will be in the end."

However, Helen added: "She’s still here. Every day that’s good news."

Holly has had surgery to relieve the pressure on her brain and her family is playing her favourite music, including tracks chosen by her friends.

"Thank you all for all your care. We are so lucky to have everyone’s support yet again," said Helen.

Only last year the family went through another difficult time when Holly's dad Adam, a builder and St Keverne fireman, underwent emergency open heart surgery after a piece of popcorn stuck in his tooth cause a serious infection.

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Adam spent his 41st birthday in hospital while he recovered, after having two major surgeries in one week, the second of which was open heart surgery to replace his aortic valve, repair his mitral valve and patch up an abscess.

He had developed infective endocarditis – an infection of the membrane that lines the inside of the chambers of the heart – which according to his surgeon left his aortic valve “flapping like a stunned octopus”.

The family shared his story in the hope of making people aware of just how serious it can be to ignore toothache, after it almost cost him his life.