Tom Cruise has thrilled a young ailing fan by donating $5,000 (GBP2,631) towards her hospital bills.

The Hollywood heart-throb recently visited ice-cream store DAIRY QUEEN in Lexington, Virgnia, where he saw a tip jar with a photo of ASHLEY FLINT, who was injured in a go-kart accident.

Her family was left with a mountain of hospital bills following the September (04) accident, so Cruise stuffed $5,000 in cash in the jar.

JASON DONALD, an employee at the store, says of Cruise, "He didn't know this girl, a complete stranger, and he made the donation."

Cruise is in Virginia shooting the upcoming movie War of the Worlds and was actually with the film's director Steven Spielberg at the time that he made the donation.

While Ashley Flint is extremely grateful to Cruise for the donation, she admits she wasn't too impressed at first.

She says, "(My mom) woke me up and told me and I was just kinda like, 'Cool, I'm trying to get back to sleep!'"

18/12/2004 03:46