A CHARITY WORKER is preparing to take on the Yorkshire Three Peaks Challenge in memory of two friends who died of brain tumours 10 years apart.

Carol Robertson, of Hounslow, is marking the anniversaries of the death of two friends with a challenge that will see her climb more than 1,600 metres and walk 24.5 miles in no more than 12 hours on April,22.

Carol will be taking on the peaks to remember her friend, a Bradford mum-of-two, Andrea Key, who died of a glioblastoma multiforme in 2002 at the age of 42. Her death inspired Carol to co-found a Yorkshire-based charity called Andrea’s Gift, now known as Yorkshire's Brain Tumour Charity (YBTC).

Bristol father-of-three Ian Meek was a brain tumour patient supported by Andrea’s Gift who became a close friend of Carol’s. He raised a whopping £130,000 for brain tumour research before his death from an oligodendroglioma in 2012. Like Andrea, he was also 42 when he died.

Carol said: “This is a special event in memory of two incredible people, both of whom shaped my life and whose memory is hugely significant to me.

“It’s also poignant that Andrea, who was a fell walker, had her ashes scattered atop Pen Y Ghent, one of the Yorkshire three peaks, and that Ian and I walked the Yorkshire Three Peaks together as training for his first major fundraising event for Andrea’s Gift, which was to organise a National Three Peaks Challenge trek.”

Carol will be undertaking the challenge with her son, Greig, 26, in aid of Brain Tumour Research, a charity she has worked for since 2014, formerly as its head of community fundraising and currently as its national events manager.

Carol, who has worked with brain tumour patients and their families since 2003, said:“ “Brain tumours rob people of precious time with their loved ones; more research is desperately needed to improve treatment options for patients and, ultimately, find a cure.

“They kill more children and adults under the age of 40 than any other cancer yet historically just 1 per cent of the national spend on cancer research has been allocated to this devastating disease.”

“At 61 years old, I also want to see if I can still walk the challenge, and survive, in less than 10 hours.”