Teacher to give away flat to combat cystic fibrosis

For a £25 entry fee, participants could snap up a one-bedroom property in the upcoming Landmark scheme on Marsh Wall, or one of two, two-bedroom homes, near Solihull in the West Midlands.

A panel of judges will pick out three winners in around six months, each of whom will receive a property.

The pair hope to attract about 60,000 entrants, which will cover the donation to the charity, as well as costs such as legal fees, stamp duty and mortgage payments on the properties.

Pat, who teaches in Dagenham, told The Wharf the couple were inspired to act in memory of a daughter of a family friend. Sarah White died of cystic fibrosis in late 2007, aged 17.

She said: "This is something we really believe in and we really hope it works.

"We'd met Sarah quite a few times and didn't realise anything was wrong. When she died, I was seven months pregnant, and it really affected me.

"We're quite lucky, and this is our chance to give something back."

Midlands-born Pat moved to Vancouver when she married finance worker Vipul, but they returned nearly a decade ago. The couple now plan to raise their two-year-old son back in Vipul's native Canada, but will supervise the competition before leaving the country.

Entries will be made through a click-and-buy system on the website winaluxuryflat.com, which is expected to go live this week. Visitors are asked to compete in a golfing Spot the Ball quiz, and fill out a tie-breaking statement in 20 words or less.

These will be judged by a three-person panel at lawyers Walker Morris, which are verifying and supervising the competition.

A contact number and video have been placed on the site to allow entrants to confirm authenticity, and Vipul adds that the Land Registry documents have already been checked by the firm. Terms and conditions are also online.

He said: "We're organising the competition on a tier system. If we reach 20,000 tickets, we'll give away one house, and we'll offer two when we hit 35,000.

"The three will be available when we reach 60,000.

"Cystic Fibrosis is not a well-known disease so we want to increase awareness and help the trust continue its work in gene therapy, which the most likely cure."

Cystic fibrosis affects over 8,000 people in the UK. According to the trust, it affects internal organs such as the lungs and digestive system, clogging them with mucus and making it hard to digest food or breathe. Every week, five babies are born with the condition, and three people die as a result of it. There is currently no cure for CF.