Mum to walk marathon in memory of five-year-old daughter

The mother of a five-year-old girl who died from a rare heart condition is to walk an overnight marathon in her memory.

Shani Berman suffered from a congenital heart defect called pulmonary atresia from birth and passed away in January after surgery complications.

Juliet Berman, along with a group of friends from Elstree and Borehamwood, will walk 26 miles overnight next week order to raise funds for Shani’s Brighter Future Fund at Great Ormond Street Hospital, as well as for Cancer Research.

The group of 18 women, who have named themselves “Shine For Shani”, will complete the Shine Night Walk on 23 September, starting in Southwark and going round the sites of London.

Juliet told Jewish News of how the walk was originally solely in aid of Cancer Research, but soon Shani became a large inspiration. She said: “we wanted to do it for all our friends who have had experiences with cancer, and also in memory of my daughter, who we lost last year.

“We didn’t lose her to cancer… but she was a member of the community – a loved member of the community, and we felt that raising money for Cancer Research and also giving some of the money to Shani’s fund at Great Ormond Street was the right thing.”

Shine for Shani’s fundraising page has reached a running total of £9,376.00, with the target currently set at £10k. However, Juliet believes that the target could be beaten.

She said: “Well we started at £8k and then decided to up it to £10k, because we may as well go for it. I’m silently hoping we can reach £15k!”

You can view the fundraising page by clicking here