Family and friends of Caroline Johnstone, the 17-year-old Bishop’s Stortford sixth-former who died in June, raised nearly £3,000 in her memory by taking part in a 6k run.
Many of the runners dressed as fairies – her internet hotmail name was Fairy Caz – for the event which started and finished at the Thorley Centre and took in a circuit of the town centre on Wednesday evening last week.
Among those who did run were Carline’s parents, Lesley and Johnny, and her younger brother Ross, from Chapel Lane, Little Hadham.
The run was organised by her many friends. “We raised £1,760 on the web and another £1,000 in cash, which is really good,” said Hannah Burnel, who knew her from both Hockerill Anglo-European College and Bishop’s Stortford High School.
Caroline was born with a hole in the heart. She had major surgery and her first pacemaker fitted when she was just five months old.
She collapsed as she danced with friends at a nightclub in Harlow. Medics resuscitated her but she suffered severe rain damage and her parents made the decision to turn off her life support machine.
The money raised by the run will go the CRY – Cardiac Risk in the Young – charity.