A runner will be taking on five miles of mud and obstacles in memory of her mother.

Peace Hospice Care’s Push It for the Peace challenge will return for a fifth year at Chiswell Green in St Albans on Saturday, September 24.

Mary Anne Petrie, 50, of Watford, will be among those taking part to thank the home for the palliative care that they gave to her mother Eileen.

Mrs Petrie donated much of the contents of her mother’s house to the hospice’s charity shops after her death in 2013.

Eileen was diagnosed with oesophageal cancer in 2012. She had chemotherapy and radiotherapy, but then suffered a stroke.

Mrs Petrie would stay up all night with her mother to look after her, and said that as the months went by she felt less like a daughter and more of an advocate fighting for her to get the right care.

After speaking to her mother’s GP and then having an assessment by a nurse from the Peace Hospice Care’s home service, Eileen was given a bed at the hospice's inpatient unit.

Mrs Petrie said: “Both mum and I felt like we had arrived in paradise. I knew mum was in good hands, and not only that, I was given a duvet and told to have a rest in the chair next to mum. I was being looked after too!”

Eileen was in the inpatient unit at the Peace Hospice Care for 10 days before dying peacefully with her two daughters by her side in December 2013.

Mrs Petrie said: “I cannot praise the staff enough. After what had been a horrific few months the hospice gave mum peace and pain free care, she loved it there and it allowed me to be a daughter again. It gave me peace and reassurance that we were doing the best we could.”

Last year, Peace Hospice Care supported 61 patients from St Albans across their 12 bed inpatient unit, Starlight Centre and Hospice at Home services. Every year the Hospice needs £5 million to run and develop its services. All of their specialist services are free for people and their families facing life-limiting illness.

To sign up, visit www.peacehospicecare.org.uk/push it, email events@peacehospicecare.org.uk or call 01923 335 373.