THIS weekend’s Swindon Half Marathon will bring Caroline Matthews and her family full circle.

Caroline, 36, and husband Chris, 35, of Sanders Close in Stratton, will push their six-year-old daughter Hope up and down the 13.1 miles of hills in her running buggy on Sunday.

Hope, who met David and Samantha Cameron with her parents outside their home before the general election, has a mitochondrial disease which has affected her since birth.

Five years ago, Caroline was inspired to take up running in a bid to raise the £3,000 needed for Hope’s first wheelchair, and has never looked back.

She raised the money and caught the running bug, with hundreds more raised in the years since for charities such as Make-a-Wish and The Lily Foundation.

“It feels like we have come full circle since I started running,” she said.

“It began with me trying to raise money for the wheelchair and now we’re both running it with her in her own running buggy.”

The trio will not be on their own on the start line. Help with pushing Hope around comes from her trampoline teacher Kelly Jones and her Swindon Borough Council colleague Jon Dunn.

“They are such great people for doing it and we are so pleased because it’s a hard, hard course and hilly,” said Caroline. “To have another two pushers going up those hills, with a six-year-old, is very welcome.”

This time the Matthews are raising money for The Freya Foundation, which raises awareness of Hope’s condition pyruvate dehydrogenase complex deficiency, and The Lily Foundation, which fights mitochondrial disease in general.

The opportunity might never have come had it not been for SEQOL Community Foundation’s generosity in relaxing the age restrictions for half marathons and letting Hope be in the race.

“It’s special for us. Fair play to SEQOL for allowing us the opportunity and bending the rules to get us in,” said Caroline.

“It’s come full circle for us, from using the race to raise money for Hope’s first wheelchair, to now running it with her as a family.”

Had it not been for the diet her parents have put her on, Hope might never have been well enough to tackle the 13.1 miles.

Hope has three siblings, sister Jordan, 15, brother Max, 14, and brother Sam, who died on Christmas Day, 2007.

She suffered seizures and spent much of her first three years in hospital, but after the family launched their own ‘miracle’ diet, she has been stable and seizure-free for years.

For more on the Matthews fundraising push and to donate visit: uk.virginmoneygiving.com/team/TeamHope6