Yorkshire teenager's fighting spirit inspires charity challenge

WHEN Gill Clark met teenager Alice Halstead during a hospital visit, she was inspired by the young girl’s bravery and decided to begin fundraising in her honour.

Eighteen-year-old Alice, from Leeds, has a rare form of diabetes, which has meant her spending most of the past two and a half years in hospital.

Gill, 34, wanted to help Alice fundraise for her favourite charity, Rays of Sunshine, after seeing how brave she has been in her battle with her illness.

Gill, from Oulton, Leeds, will join 11,000 others in the 2010 Jane Tomlinson’s Leeds 10K on July 4 to raise money.

She said: “I help Alice where I can, but I thought that I should really be challenging myself if she can achieve so much with her condition.

“So I thought, what would be the scariest thing that I could do? And the answer was simple. Running – every time!”

Gill first met Alice when her own son, Tom, was admitted to hospital at nine months old, after falling into a hypoglycaemic coma. The pair have been friends since.

Tom is now four and although it has been discovered he isn’t diabetic, doctors are still trying to pin down the cause of his hypoglycaemic episodes.

The 2010 Jane Tomlinson’s Leeds 10K takes place on Sunday, July 4. To enter visit www.runforall.com

The Yorkshire Post is the event’s media partner.