A BRAVE Westhoughton youngster will once again be remembered thanks to the return of Race for Life.

Karen Kelly and her friends and family have raised more than £10,000 since 2013 for Cancer Research UK by taking part in Race for Life.

As the nation looks beyond lockdown, “Team Georgia” will once again pull on their trainers to honour the memory of Georgia Kelly.

Cancer Research UK’s much-loved Race for Life events are returning, but with socially distanced measures in place to keep participants safe.

Georgia, who lived with parents Karen and Phil Kelly in Daisy Hill was diagnosed with neuroblastoma in 2011.

The plucky youngster faced years of hospital admissions, surgery, chemotherapy, a stem cell transplant, immunotherapy and radiotherapy treatment. At one point she was enrolled onto a Cancer Research UK funded clinical trial but the St James Primary School pupil sadly lost her battle against the disease at the end of 2015.

Paediatric nurse Karen, 45, and her husbandmoved from Westhoughton following Georgia’s death to Adlington. Karen lost her father Sam to cancer just months before Georgia’s diagnosis.

It will be an emotional moment on the Race for Life Leigh start line for Karen and Team Georgia who have supported her every step of the way. This year Team Georgia will boast more than 25 members.

Now Karen hopes her story will inspire people to join a Race for Life event near them this autumn.

She said: “We will always be grateful for the research which allowed us to spend more time with Georgia.

“She went through gruelling treatment at such a young age, but always kept smiling. We miss her every single day and Race for Life is a very special event for us as she loved taking part and the amazing atmosphere on the day.”

Jane Bullock from Cancer Research UK, said: “We are always so grateful to Karen and Team Georgia for their ongoing and loyal support.”

“Race for Life offers the perfect opportunity for people across the region to run, walk or jog and raise money for life-saving research. We know that 2020 was a year like no other and we had to overcome many challenges thrown our way during the global pandemic.”