CLAIRE Legg was so moved by the plight of her friend’s daughter she decided to join a challenge to run 500 miles.

Hope Matthews, 11, lives with the progressive illness that affects the mitochondria, which is in almost every cell of the body and generates energy. 

She spent the first three years of her life in hospital because of the disease which caused her to have seizures. 

The 36-year-old is a friend of Hope’s mum Caroline and wanted to support her and The Lily Foundation, a charity that fights mitochondrial disease, by taking part in the Mito Miles Challenge.

“The challenge was set up by the charity in May to get as many people possible doing as many miles as they can,” said Claire.

“Caroline’s daughter is disabled and registered blind and gets a lot of support from The Lily Foundation. A lot of runners in the running community do fundraisers, so we got a team together to raise some money and do this challenge.

“It ends in September because starting on September 14 it’s Mito Awareness Week and this is a big push to raise awareness for it.”

Claire does some of the runs with her two cocker spaniels Molly and Oakley.
She has already raised £345 of their £300 target.

Claire, of Chiseldon, said: “I didn’t know anything about the disease until I met Caroline. Hope comes out with us sometimes because she has a running buggy. 

“I must admit, I didn’t realise how much I was biting off until I did it, but I’m just really excited about it. I’m about halfway through already, I’d love to do more than 500 miles because that would be the icing on the cake. 

“This just means so much to me because it’s a small charity and it’s fantastic. Even though Hope has this disease, she just shows it doesn’t matter what disability you have, you can still have a great life.”

So far, the team has virtually run the distance from Swindon to Australia and Caroline is grateful for everyone who is taking part. 

She said: “We have 58 people running in Hope’s name covering 2,300 miles just last week. I feel very proud of everyone doing it, getting Hope’s name out there and raising awareness.

“There are lots of different types of this disease and she has a complex deficiency which causes organ damage and she used to have lots of seizures. She is very disabled, she can’t walk or move around much but everyone who meets her can see how determined she is. She loves stories, you could read to her all day and she loves animals, Hope is just fun and loving.”

Donations can be made at justgiving.com/fundraising/Claire-Legg-Mito-Miles