A MOTHER will run the London Marathon in memory of her teenage daughter, who died suddenly in September.

Nottingham University student Rosie Carter, who previously worked at The George, in St Mary Bourne, had encouraged mum Emma Carter-Desai to enter the London Marathon before she died in her sleep while on a family holiday in Wales on September 8.

Mrs Carter-Desai, of St Mary Bourne, who has three other children, was given a place to run for charity Young Epilepsy after her application was initially unsuccessful.

She said: “I applied for the marathon before Rosie died because she wanted me to do it and a couple of weeks after she died I found out I didn't get in. Part of me was a bit sad and part of me was quite relieved.”

Mrs Carter-Desai is now on track to raise her target of £15,000 for Young Epilepsy, and she has already raised £9,100 through sponsorship and coffee mornings.

Her children are supporting her with 14-year-old Amber holding school cake sales and 12-year-old Tom and six-year-old Phoebe coming up with ideas to boost her total.

Mrs Carter-Desai, who hopes to run her first marathon with friend Lee Morgan in under four-and-a-half hours, is training several times a week and recently completed the Reading half-marathon in one hour and 58 seconds.

She said: “I have days when I just don't want to go and days when I am angry and it gets a bit of frustration out.

“I did the Reading half-marathon with my sister and it was very emotional. Things pop up in your head, pictures.

“Rosie would have loved to have run the marathon with me. Rosie was very proud of us all.”

An inquest into Rosie's death has been opened and the family is still waiting for answers into how the 19-year-old died.

She had suffered from seizures on and off since she was 14-years-old, but had never been diagnosed with epilepsy because doctors believed they were night terrors, said her mum.

Rosie, who was studying fashion marketing at university, was waiting to be referred to a consultant at the time of her death.

Mrs Carter-Desai said: “Mainly this is about awareness of young girls and young boys, who have nocturnal seizures, who brush it off like Rosie did, to make them realise it can kill them. If Rosie had known that she definitely wouldn't have brushed it off.”

She added: “Rosie was really healthy, very happy. She went spinning with her grandmother at the leisure centre every week and had a lovely boyfriend, Ryan.

“You would look at her and she was a picture of health. She was very very popular and had a lot of friends. She was extremely close to her sisters and brother.”

To raise money for Young Epilepsy, visit http://www.justgiving.com/mum-runs-for-Rosie.