A PAIR of Stourbridge students are set to take on the Great Midlands Fun Run in memory of their friend, who died from cancer earlier this year.

King Edward VI College pupils Madeleine Currie, of Stourport, and Lauren Hughes, of Worcester, are currently hard at work training for the 8.5 mile run.

And along the way the 16-year-olds are hoping to raise funds for the Teenage Cancer Trust, who provide life-changing care and support so young people don’t have to face cancer alone.

In January, their friend, 16-year-old Anna Wilkinson from Uphampton, died after an 18-month battle with cancer.

Miss Currie said: “Losing one of my best friends was the hardest thing I have ever been through, but the pain was nothing compared to Anna’s 18-month battle with cancer.

“Anna was a true inspiration to everyone she met.

“I have never met a kinder, cleverer, more honest and resilient person. She was a friend to everyone she knew and spread joy where she went.

“On January 22 many hearts broke with the news that Anna had sadly passed away. As we are slowly rebuilding our lives Lauren and I want to do something in Anna’s memory, to honour what an incredible life she had, which was tragically cut short.

“Throughout Anna’s battle with cancer, she never once complained or said it wasn’t fair. Her faith never wavered. Even when I visited her in hospital she was still telling me jokes and smiling.

“For this I would like to thank the staff on the Teenage Cancer Trust ward and everyone involved with the organisation for giving Anna hope, allowing her to be a teenager still when she was forced by her illness to grow up too fast and for finally letting her have fun and remain Anna throughout everything.

“We hope the money we raise can go towards giving another young people the chances in life Anna sadly didn’t.

“We are really looking forward to the Great Midlands Fun Run in June. We’ve been doing lots of training and running 10K in our college’s gym.”

The girls have set up a blog to document their progress with training in the run up to the fun run, which can be found at ourrunforanna.wordpress.com.

To sponsor Madeleine and Lauren and help them reach their £1,000 target, visit justgiving.com/ourrunforanna.