Stamp of approval for Hannah

Hannah joins Sir Bobby Moore on the charity stamps

Cornwall schoolgirl Hannah Tonkin is being honoured on a new range of stamps for her courage in fighting cancer.

Hannah, eight, of St Agnes in Cornwall, joins football legend Sir Bobby Moore as the face on stamps to mark the launch of a new campaign by the Cancer Research Campaign.

For Hannah, it is another landmark in her extraordinary fight against the life-threatening disease.

She was first diagnosed with retinoblastoma of her left eye at the age of six months.

Birthday present

Doctors at St Bartholomew's Hospital in London revealed that the cancer could spread to her other eye, or even worse, to her brain.

The infected eye was removed, but it was a nerve-wracking four and a half years before doctors gave her the all-clear.

In fact it was on her fifth birthday, 13 March 1999, that she got the good news.

"It was the best birthday present ever," said her mum Sonia.

"She is a very positive child - very feisty and full of life.

"We are very proud of her.

"She takes it all in her stride." So much so that she is training for a black belt in the martial art Tai Kwan do.

Nobel Prize

She hopes to become a vet or work for the cancer charity.

The latest honour is the icing on the cake in a year in which Hannah was also chosen to represent Cancer Research UK as a child patron.

She joins Sir Bobby as well as two Nobel Prize winners, Sir Paul Nurse, head of Cancer Research UK, and Dr Tim Hunt, who fronts the charity's Cell Cycle Control on the fund-raising stamps.

The four stamps - the first to be issued by a national charity - are on sale from the charity on 020 7061 8347 at £5 a pack.

Director of Communications, Susan Osborne, said: "We hit on the idea of producing customised stamps for our supporters after seeing Royal Mail Smilers stamps which allow people to put their face next to The Queen.

"The idea was well received by Royal Mail and we set about preparing the artwork and arranging the printing of these very special stamps."