A Leigh charity has pledged to raise £300,000 to fund university research into brain haemorrhage.

The Natalie Kate Moss Trust was set up in 2012 following the sudden death of University of Manchester alumni Natalie Moss.

Natalie died from a brain haemorrhage at the age of 26 and the Leigh charity was founded in her memory.

Over the past ten years, the charity has funded scholarships for students attending the university who have suffered a brain injury.

There have also been a number of smaller donations to support the research activities and the latest pledge will fund the salary and running costs of a post PhD research fellow for three and a half years, within the stroke research team at the recently opened Geoffrey Jefferson Brain Research Centre.

A brain haemorrhage is a type of stroke and around half of all patients who experience one will die, with the death rate changing very little over the past 30 years.

At the moment, there is no successful treatment for haemorrhagic stroke, which makes this a key area of research for the Manchester Stroke Group.

Natalie’s sister and co-founder of the Natalie Kate Moss Trust, Fiona Moss, has shared Natalie’s story as part of the University of Manchester’s own stroke research appeal, and helped to raise more than £100,000.

This money will help to fund another research fellow and together they will increase capacity in the Manchester stroke team and support the search for life-saving new treatments.

Professor Stuart Allan, from the University of Manchester, said: “We are incredibly grateful for this fantastic commitment from the Natalie Kate Moss Trust and I am so proud to lead the team of researchers who are currently undertaking ground-breaking work in stroke.

“This commitment to £300,000 funding will enable us to attract and support a very talented young scientist and to fund their work over the next three and a half years, helping them to launch their research career as well as build capacity in our expanding haemorrhagic research team.”

Fiona Moss, co-founder and trustee of the Natalie Kate Moss Trust, said: “We are really excited and honoured to be able to make this commitment to Professor Allan and his team at the University of Manchester.

“After working with them for almost ten years now, it is incredible to see how far they have come and we are really excited that this funding pledge will enable the team to do so much more work in to the causes and treatment of brain haemorrhage.

“As a family, we have experienced the heartbreak of losing a young daughter and sister to a sudden brain haemorrhage and we feel proud to be able to make this commitment to them in Natalie’s memory.”

To find out more about the Natalie Kate Moss Trust, visit www.nataliekatemoss.co.uk.