A NINE-year-old girl who is living with a hole in her heart has run the 26 miles of a marathon in just 26 days to raise money for the British Heart Foundation.

Lola Crouch, of North Bradley, ran a mile after school and at weekends every day for 26 consecutive days in order to complete the challenge.

She ran the final mile with 11 of her close friends and mum Emily, who is a fitness instructor.

Lola, who attends North Bradley Primary School, said: “Me and my mum thought that because some people aren't as lucky as me so we would do the run to raise money to help the doctors give medicine to the people that need it. It was quite challenging but quite good too."

On some of the runs Lola was joined by other children from the school as well as her parents.

"Sometimes other people ran with me, but the rest of the time it was me and mum or me and dad," she explained. "So far I have raised £838 for the British Heart Foundation. I might have a bit of a break but mum said we should do something like this again," Lola added.

Lola was born with a ventricular septal defect in her heart, but did not need surgery. Although she is a healthy little girl, she has to have regular hospital check-ups which have made her aware of other people's heart problems and the work of the British Heart Foundation.

Mum Emily said: “I am really proud of her, she has not moaned once and has loved the challenge.

“I’m glad it’s over though as it’s starting to get really cold.

“She’s always been really sporty as we are a sporty family so she wanted to combine that love of sport with her wish to fundraise for charity.”

The British Heart Foundation has congratulated and thanked Lola for all of her efforts to fundraise for the charity.

Jane Turner, fundraising manager for Wiltshire at the BHF, said: “We are incredibly grateful to Lola for joining us in the fight for every heartbeat and going the extra mile to raise money for the BHF.

“Every step she takes and every pound she raises will go on to help us fund more lifesaving research to support the 54,000 people living with heart and circulatory disease in Wiltshire.”