It will be a year on Sunday since a Fife tot who had an aircraft named after her died in hospital after suddenly falling ill.
Since then Edie Murphy’s heartbroken parents have run more than 180 miles in her memory, earning a clutch of 15 medals.
Tom and Cheryl Murphy have continued the Fly High Edie campaign by running 10k races, marathons and half-marathons.
With friends and family they have raised around £11,500 for the Sick Kids Friends Foundation.
Their last run of the season, the Yorkshire Marathon, was on Sunday just a week before the anniversary of their eldest daughter’s death.
Cheryl, 32, said: “We do this for Edie. We can’t change what’s happened so we decided to raise as much as we could and running is the only way we know how.”
Edie, who lived her short life in Kirkcaldy, was not quite two-and-a-half years old when she died in Edinburgh’s Royal Hospital for Sick Children on October 16, last year.
It was later discovered she had a rare form of epilepsy called hemiconvulsion hemiplegia syndrome which is undetectable until a seizure occurs.
The campaign to keep her name alive took off shortly afterwards, resulting in her winning 130,000 public votes and a competition to have a Boeing 787 aircraft named after her.
Cheered on by 16-month-old daughter Annie, planner Tom, 33, and travel agent Cheryl, who now live in Leeds, went on to run six 10k races, six half marathons, two marathons and the Great North Run between them in tribute to their beloved ‘Edie Chops’.
Each medal is dedicated to Edie and hung in their home below a photograph of her.
Their final race of this year was on October 9, a poignant date for the family, and Cheryl and Tom ran side-by-side for the entire 26 miles.
Cheryl said: “October 9 last year was the last day we spent with Edie before she fell ill.
“Sunday was quite a big day for us and I don’t think I could have got round without Tom.
“It was really, really special to run it together.”
The money raised will help other families through the nightmare of their child being admitted to hospital by supporting the Sick Kids Friends Foundation.
Cheryl said: “They do such incredible work.
“We were in hospital for six days with Edie. We didn’t have anywhere to stay but they gave us somewhere to stay and made sure we had everything we needed.
“The whole situation would have been so much worse if we had to worry about getting home and getting to and from the hospital each day.”
Running has shifted some of the focus from their heartache, although Cheryl admitted it had been tough to keep going at times.
She said: “It has been a lot, lot harder than I thought.
“We started quite soon after losing Edie and some days were much more difficult than others so there were quite a few abandoned runs.
“But it wasn’t about being the best it was about Edie.”
On Sunday, the couple have asked friends and family to release balloons for her, dressed in Edie’s favourite floral prints and Converse trainers.
They have their own plans for sharing happy memories of their “happy, colourful soul” on what Cheryl said would be an emotional day.
She said: “This time last year she was really poorly in hospital but we want to remember Edie happy, we don’t want it to be about the week was ill.
“We had two years of her before she was poorly.”
Some of Edie’s character remains with them in her little sister, who Cheryl said was very like her.
She said: “Annie has the same sort of attitude and is cheeky just like her.
“There’s definitely some of Edie left in the world.”
