A BRADFORD postwoman is set to embark on a challenge to complete 26 marathons in 26 days in a bid to raise £60,000 to fund treatment for her severely ill friend.

Kelly Williams, 40, who lives in Wilsden, wants to fund stem cell treatment for her friend Sol, who lives in Argentina but was bitten by a tick during a holiday to the UK in 2012 and now suffers from chronic Lyme Disease.

She is using her gruelling task to start a wider campaign called ‘Spread a Little Sunshine’, which is designed to encourage people to use acts of kindness to “inspire change and make a real difference” to people’s lives.

“Helping Sol is the reason I came up with the idea of 26 marathons in 26 days,” she said.

“Stem cell research is her only hope, and I want to help her.

“I knew I had to come up with something big in order to get people’s attention and encourage people to donate.

“£60,000 is a heck of a lot of money, and to raise such an amount would need an exciting, fun idea that everyone could relate to and get involved with on different levels.

“So me being me I then started to think about why I was doing this, why helping others is a good thing, and why it would be really cool if I could use this idea to encourage others to act.”

Ms Williams, who is starting her challenge on Wednesday, said she walks around 11 miles on a normal work day and will be continuing after her round to ensure she hits the 26-mile mark each day.

She has created a website and will be posting regular video updates on her progress, also nominating friends to perform their own acts of kindness to spread the message behind her campaign.

She is planning to finish her final marathon in Saltaire’s Roberts Park on Sunday, July 23, and is inviting people to come and join her to do the full distance or the final mile.

On what she was hoping to achieve from her campaign, Ms Williams said: “Whether you complete marathons, give blood, help someone, or simply smile at folk more often, together we can inspire change and make a real difference, to Sol’s life, to your life, and to everyone else’s lives.

“This campaign is about as many people on this planet as possible taking action, even the smallest act of kindness is action in the right direction. Spreading love, spreading hope, spreading sunshine.”

To find out more, visit spreadalittlesunshine.org.

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