DESPITE never having met the family of Amber Phillpott, Flo Stoermer is to run a gruelling 38-mile endurance challenge in her memory.

Amber, from Abingdon, died aged 18 months last year after contracting rare disease acute myelogenous leukaemia.

Mr Stoermer, 34, of Elizabeth Drive, Wantage, said he heard her story through his parents-in-law who knew her grandparents. He said he was one of many to have been moved by it.

He said: “I found it very touching and I wanted to do something. The story made a lot of people aware of the problem.”

“People ask me how I will find the strength to do it, and I say it’s keeping the name Amber Phillpott alive.”

Amber’s parents James Phillpott and Fleur Tinson set up the Amber Phillpott Trust for research into the disease after her death in March 2011.

So far more than £50,000 has been raised through charity runs, donations and festivals.

Mr Phillpott set up Abingdon’s annual Yeah Baby! festival three years ago to fundraise for the Oxford Children’s Hospital (Chox) after a friend’s son received lifesaving care there.

But the festival this year will be held in his daughter’s name – with money raised going to Chox, Ronald McDonald House, Helen & Douglas House, and the Amber Phillpott Trust.

Mr Stoermer, a charge nurse at Oxford’s John Radcliffe Hospital, will run his ‘ultra marathon’ as part of the free event on Saturday, July 14.

The run will take him from Sparsholt to Streatley along the Ridgeway and then to Abingdon for the festival, via Wallingford and Dorchester.

He has been training for about 10 hours a week since December. The father-of-two hopes to raise £1,500 for the trust.

Mr Phillpott, 37, said: “It’s staggering that someone who I have never met is going to do this. It’s a huge challenge.”

l To read Mr Stoermer’s blog, visit amber14712.blogspot.com or to donate, visit virginmoneygiving. com/florianstoermer For more about the Amber Phillpott Trust, visit amberphillpott.com or yeah-baby.co.uk