A teenager with an unknown cancer gene has slammed thieves who stole fundraising donations at a party.
Dundee University student Megan Cassidy, of Old Hawkhill, had placed a tip jar on top of the fridge in her communal kitchen in a bid to raise funds for Cancer Research UK.
The 17-year-old, who has been advised to have her ovaries removed to avoid developing cancer was distraught when she found £40 had been taken out of the jar.
Instead, partygoers filled it up with vodka and bottle caps on Tuesday night.
The first-year geography and environmental science student had been hoping to use the money to reach her £1,500 target for the Cancer Research Stand Up To Cancer campaign.
Megan said: “One of my flatmates had a few friends around for pre-drinks and it turned into a full-on flat party.
“I came back at about 10pm and the kitchen was heaving. The party finished at about 2am and that’s when I noticed what had happened.
“At first I thought ‘oh good, more people have donated’, but then I saw the Stand Up To Cancer poster had been ripped.
“The platypus bank, which I was using for the donations to go into, wasn’t on top of the fridge anymore. When I found the bank, it was filled up with vodka and bottle caps.
“I didn’t think people would stoop that low, to steal money that was for Cancer Research.”
Megan believes there was no way anyone could mistake the funds for anything else but fundraising.
She said: “I had the poster up which had ‘raise cash to beat cancer’ written on it and the bank had ‘Stand Up To Cancer’ all over it.”
Megan, originally from Irvine, said she was passionate about raising awareness about cancer after losing her gran to the disease.
She has been told by doctors to try to have children at a young age so she can have her ovaries removed as early as possible because she carries an unknown cancer gene.
She said: “I was doing the fundraising because we’ve got a genetic problem in the family, so it’s an issue close to my heart. My gran died two years ago aged 60 and her sisters suffered too, so I do fundraising all the time.
“I didn’t think people could be so heartless.”
To donate to Megan’s fund, visit www.justgiving.com/stand-up-to-cancer-Megan-Cassidy2016.