A three-year-old girl who died of a mystery illness which left her weighing just 6lb has been remembered through a gruelling fundraising challenge.

Keira Turner, from Maidstone, died at Demelza Hospice a week before her fourth birthday from an undiagnosed condition.

The little girl was still wearing baby clothes on her tiny frame when she passed away.

For unknown reasons her body was unable to put on weight, despite being fed a high calorie diet and glucose. She couldn’t walk or talk but defied doctors by being able to sit up.

The plucky youngster, who mum Emma describes fondly as ‘a little monkey’, had biopsies and countless tests, but none were able to pinpoint what was wrong with her.

Shortly before Keira’s death in February 2011, her parents opted for her and the whole family to go to Demelza hospice in Sittingbourne.

Emma said: “It was a relief. We could just love her as parents rather than nurses.

“The support was just amazing. It makes that really difficult time just a bit easier. They help with the arrangements when you’re just lost. They look after children like they are their own. It’s like a big family.

“It gave us breathing space to get everything sorted and get your own head around it.”

Keira’s older sister Jenna, nine, was able to visit her several times a day and her brother Jack took part in siblings activities put on by the charity.

Emma added: “We could never repay what Demelza did for us and how much it meant to us as a family.”

Now Keira’s cousin, Kerry Randall, has raised more than £2,500 by running, walking, hiking and crawling 273km through the American desert for the hospice.

“It was an incredibly tough but rewarding challenge and when things got really hard, I thought of Keira and it pulled me through" - Keira's cousin Kerry

Kerry said of her epic journey: “It was an honour to support Demelza in Keira’s memory.

“It was an incredibly tough but rewarding challenge and when things got really hard, I thought of Keira and it pulled me through.

"No words can express the thanks our family have for the staff and this was my small way of combining a fantastic adventure with a very special cause’.”