A four-year-old girl who almost died from meningitis when she was only a few weeks old is walking 100 miles with her mum to raise money for charity.

Little Daisy and mum Sianade, 31, are undertaking the walk in April and May to heighten awareness of the life-threatening disease, as well as raising money for the Meningitis Research Foundation and Meningitis Now.

The Bells, including twin sisters Shay and Lilly, seven, and Brandon, 14, have just returned from a rescheduled holiday in Mallorca, which they had to cancel last July when Daisy was rushed into hospital with encephalitis (swelling of the brain).

“I took her to Hinchingbrooke, but she fell into a coma there. She was put on a ventilator before being rushed to Addenbrooke’s in an ambulance with a resus team.”

Daisy was kept in hospital for almost a week and had three operations on her brain in four days, forcing the family to cancel the holiday that had taken Sianade a full year to save up for. Despite Daisy’s condition, the holiday company refused to give the Bells a refund, because they hadn’t given 14 days notice, until The Hunts Post took up the case and the firm eventually agreed to reschedule the trip.

“We’d like to thank everyone at the paper,” said Sianade.

Sianade and Daisy’s target is 10 miles a day, which they are doing between their home in Huntingdon and Godmanchester.

“We initially did it to simply raise awareness of the condition,” said Sianade. “But we thought we might as well raise some money as well.”

The mother and daughter have already raised £342 and covered 30 miles.

“Daisy loves it. We take some bread to feed the ducks at The Causeway in Godmanchester. We have T-shirts for the two charities we’re raising money for.

“Daisy also has a jumper with ‘Daisy’s Miles for Meningitis’ on it and she loves it when people come to ask what we’re doing. Despite everything, she’s very outgoing.”

Donations can be made by calling 01454 281814 or by visiting www.meningitis.org/get-involved. It is also possible to donate £5 by texting GIFT00.