Worsley MP Barbara Keeley pounded the streets of Salford to complete a five-mile run dedicated to an 11-year-old girl who died after her heart simply stopped beating.
Amy Williams was found unconscious by her parents at her Boothstown home in April this year, and an inquest into her death found that her heart had just stopped.
The recently elected MP took part in the City of Salford Women's five-mile run in order to raise money for the charity CRY – Cardiac Risk in the Young – and in memory of Amy.
Barbara said: "After hearing of Amy's tragic death earlier this year, I thought about running in the Salford Women's Run to raise money and publicity for the charity CRY.
"Money raised for CRY goes to help research the issue of sudden deaths arising from heart problems, especially among young children.
"I ran the race in memory of Amy and hope that we can raise more funds and publicity for this charity to help it eliminate the risk on cardiac arrests among the young in future."
Amy's dad is hopeful that the MP's involvement will lead to an increased national profile of the dangers of heart conditions in the young, with the eventual aim of ensuring all active children are scanned to see if any problems could arise.
David Williams, 45, said: "We were stunned when we got a letter from the Houses of Parliament and were pleased that Barbara wanted to help.
"Eight young people a week die from an unknown heart condition, yet it's not perceived as a major problem, when it obviously is.
"Although a scan may not have shown anything was wrong with Amy's heart, because certain conditions only become visible after somebody has died, scanning children will hopefully become compulsory so that if there is a problem, maybe something could be done about it."
