A SISTER is completing the challenge of a lifetime in memory of her siblings.

Sarah Mitchell was fortunate and did not inherit Batten Disease which eventually killed her brother John and sister Bridie.

In their honour she is completing an ultramarathon, a 100km run, this weekend.

Sarah, 28, of Little Thurrock, is raising money for Little Havens Children’s Hospice in Benfleet, who supported her siblings in their fight.

Sarah’s siblings, John and Bridie Philpott, were both diagnosed with Variant Late Infantile Battens Disease when they were each aged six.

Tragically they are believed to have been the only two children in the UK at the time with such a serious strand.

John sadly died aged 16 in January 2013, almost exactly a year after Bridie passed away aged 13.

After John and Bridie’s conditions were diagnosed as terminal, the children and family were instantly contacted by the hospice which brought joy to both the children and their family in harrowing times and became a home to them all in John and Bridie’s final moments.

Sarah said: “This disease, an inherited disorder of the nervous system, emerges in early childhood and robs children of their lives.

“Both John and Bridie were left completely blind, suffering from mental impairment, a lack of motor skills and severe seizures.

“Little Havens is where John and Bridie both left this earth and joined the angels.

“We will never be able to thank them enough for what they have done for us. I am doing this in memory of John and Bridie Philpott.”

Sarah will raise money by taking part in Dixons Carphone Race in the North Wessex downs, near Swindon this weekend.

She will run the race over two days and camp overnight in the middle.

She will start first thing on Saturday morning, run all day, camp, then run again.

She was hoping to raise £1,000 but has already raised £1,200. Visit uk.virginmoneygiving.com/SarahMitchell46 to help.