MORE than 2,100 people have now backed The Star's Don't Do It, Hewitt campaign - but readers just have one more chance to add their support.

The Star offices have been flooded with forms urging Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt not to axe Wycombe's A & E department after hospital officials warned more services could be moved in future.

Wycombe Hospital has already seen trauma surgery move to Stoke Mandeville, and women's and children's are also due to move.

The campaign was launched after Buckinghamshire Hospitals NHS Trust said it could not guarantee the future of the A & E department after admitting more changes could be forced through by the Department of Health.

Carolyn McCall, 34, from Marlow Bottom, has backed Don't Do It, Hewitt as she said her young son could have died from an allergic reaction to a nut if he had not been treated at Wycombe Hospital.

Her son Peter, who was two-and-a-half, suffered a reaction after eating a Brazil nut last November and had to be rushed to the hospital for treatment. Mrs McCall believes the allergy could have proved fatal if she had been forced to drive to Stoke Mandeville. She said: "If we had to drive all the way to Stoke Mandeville I think Peter would have died. It sounds horrible to say it but that is what I think.

"Peter wanted to try a nut. I thought he would be fine with it. About 30 seconds later he was in anaphylactic shock. His face swelled up. He was choking. Luckily I recognised the signs and that he was having a reaction."

The family rushed him to hospital where he was given immediate treatment including steroids and oxygen, and kept in hospital overnight.

The Star campaign has also been backed by Wycombe MP Paul Goodman and High Wycombe Mayor Darren Hayday.

Alan Bedford, acting chief executive at the hospital trust, has stressed there are no plans to close Wycombe's A & E and said the public would be involved if any major changes were discussed.