A YOUNG Riding Mill man has given himself a mountain to climb in memory of the sister who was courageous to the end.

Adam Gillie (23) aims to raise £50,000 for Newcastle’s Maggie’s Centre in gratitude for the support he and his parents, Rob and Denise, received following the death of his sister Rachel last November.

Rachel (26) died just months after jointly winning the Rotary Club of Hexham’s Young Employee of the Year award.

“I’m still struggling to accept what’s happened,” said Adam. “She’s left a hole in all of our lives. Even though we did fight a lot as kids, we were inseparable. We always looked after each other.”

Rachel was just 19 when the first signs of paraganglioma, a rare cancer that causes tumours in the nervous system, appeared. Treatment saw off that occurrence, and another in her early 20s, but when it returned for the third time last year, it developed rapidly.

“She didn’t ever let it stop her doing what she wanted to do,” Adam said. “When she got better the first time, she went off to university and got a 2:1 in English and American literature.

“Later, she got a job at Fentimans, where she really enjoyed working, and when she was ill again, she handled most of the treatment outside of work. A lot of people didn’t know about it, but that was her and that’s why it came as a shock to quite a lot of her friends at the end.”

Adam and a team of friends have already raised £13,000, largely through a series of physical challenges he says have given him a means of channeling his grief.

Together they have completed the Great North Run, the 26-mile Allendale Challenge, the Edinburgh 10K, the 12-mile Tough Mudder and 10-mile Total Warrior challenges, as well as the 130-mile Coast to Coast cycle ride – in a day.

Kielder’s 26-mile duathlon Run Bike Run, on October 7, and the marathon the following day are next.

They can be sponsored at Just Giving: remembering Rachel Gillie.