A mum is running 10k in memory of her “radiant” and “vibrant” daughter, who died suddenly at the age of 19.
Liana Hoyland, a former pupil at Roundwood Park in Harpenden and student at the University of Nottingham, died from Sudden Adult Death, the lesser known adult equivalent of cot death, on Saturday, February 20, 2016.
Her mum Kairen is taking part in the East Midlands run to raise money for Cardiac Risk in the Young (CRY), and has already raised £1,679 through a sleep-out in December on what would have been Liana’s 20th birthday.
Kairen, 39, who lives in Caddington and works as a legal PA, said: “You only had to meet Liana once and you’d remember her, she was like sunshine.
“No one could possible have seemed more healthy than Liana. She was living life to the full so happily. I have to fundraise now in Liana’s honour and help to prevent other families going through this.”
Liana, who achieved two A*s and an A at A-Level and was studying psychology at university, leaves her sister Sophie, who is 11 months younger, her boyfriend Ollie and a wide circle of friends.
Kairen said: “My daughters are without a doubt the most inspirational people I’ve ever met. I am beyond lucky to be their mum.
“Our motto will always remain ‘us three girls against the world’.
“Liana’s friends have told me since that all through secondary school, she was never unkind about anyone and that she saw the very best in everyone. Our girl was a one-off.
“At her funeral at the Methodist Church in Harpenden we walked in and there was barely any standing room. More than 400 people came. Liana was and always will be so loved.”
Sophie designed a plaque in Liana’s memory to be placed on a bench in a picturesque field in Markyate, which Liana would regularly sit on with her best friend Gen.
Kairen is taking part in the six-mile run despite never having run more than a mile before. She said: “Everything these days that would have phased me before is easy in comparison to having to live without Liana.
“It now falls to us to help people on her behalf and in her honour, in the way she would be doing if she were still here.”
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