A FAMOUS actress from Renton has stepped in to boost a fundraising campaign for a teenager from the village who needs life-saving treatment abroad for a very rare form of cancer.

Gayle Telfer Stevens, who plays Caitlin McLean in TV soap River City and appeared as Francine in Sunshine on Leith, joined forces with her stage partner Louise McCarthy to ask for donations from their audience at a recent performance of their show ‘The Dolls’ at The King’s Theatre in Glasgow.

The kind-hearted comedy duo raised £4,153 on the night which will be donated to Arin Kirilmaz, 14, who is currently undergoing gruelling rounds of chemotherapy after he was diagnosed with throat cancer, nasopharyngeal carcinoma, in October.

He is currently being fed through a tube in his stomach because food would hurt the back of his throat.

Arin, a Vale of Leven Academy pupil, needs specialist treatment in Germany or America which will vastly improve his chances of survival.

He requires a type of radiation that isn’t available in the UK, called proton beam therapy.

A post on The Dolls Facebook page said: “Gorgeous Dollies! You raised £4,153 for Arin.

“You are all amazing and we can’t thank you enough!

“The amount will make such a difference to his journey for further treatment.

“A massive thank you to you all and The King’s Theatre.”

Since his diagnosis the whole community has rallied round to help, and a friend of the family set up a Just Giving page for donations which has now reached £8,513.

Thanks to the Dolls donation the total amount raised has now reached £12,666 which will enable Arin’s parents Eileen and Hakki as well as Arin’s twin brother Leon to travel abroad together when Arin receives the treatment he needs.

The Dolls recent donation means the family won’t be separated, as originally feared, while Arin undergoes the ten-week course of treatment abroad.

If you would like to donate, visit justgiving.com/crowdfunding/arin-kirkilmaz.

The Dolls is a raucous and outrageous comedy about two ‘Glesga’ cleaners who mop stairs and vacuum carpets – but still find time to dispose of a body or two.