A grieving mother is completing a gruelling 250-mile walk in memory of her daughter who died last year from an aggressive form of lung cancer.

Christine Turner from Pakefield was left devastated when her 23-year-old daughter Emily died last August after suffering a heart attack caused by small-cell carcinoma, a cancer deemed very rare in non-smokers.

Emily was looking forward to a bright future with her fiance Alex Jeffery when she was diagnosed with the disease.

Christine, 54, said walking Emily's cocker spaniel Pippa and her own cocker spaniel Daisy had helped her to feel close to her daughter and find some peace during a difficult year in which her own mother also died.

She is now planning to complete a 250-mile walk through Suffolk and Norfolk to raise awareness of the disease – also known as oat cell cancer – and raise funds for research into it.

She said: 'Emily loved walking and would walk the dogs from Pakefield to Kessingland twice a day.

'It has been a difficult time and walking the dogs has helped me grieve.

'I feel as though I am with Emily when I am walking Pippa.

'My mum loved walking too and I will be wearing her boots when I do this challenge.'

Emily had only been ill for a few months when she died at the James Paget University Hospital from a sudden heart attack caused by the cancer.

She had just bought a home with her fiance and talked about starting a family.

Christine said her daughter was a non-smoker and didn't have a cough but had experienced chest pains similar to a chest infection.

She said Emily wasn't diagnosed with lung cancer until after her death, when the cancerous cells were discovered during a post mortem examination.

'I want to raise awareness of lung cancer in non-smokers and young people,' she said. 'As soon as you say lung cancer, people assume that the person has smoked or been affected by somebody else smoking. At least 10 to 15pc of people with lung cancer are non-smokers.

'Lung cancer research doesn't get as much money as other charities because, to some extent, people think sufferers have brought it on themselves.

'Early diagnosis is important but even then small-cell carcinoma is difficult to treat so it is important more research is done to give people hope.'

Christine, who is funding the cost of the walk herself, has specified that all the money she raises should be used to benefit lung cancer sufferers in the local area.

She added: 'I am in contact with the lung cancer nurses at James Paget Hospital to see where it will benefit in this area the most. They have got research nurses in Norwich so if we could fund a research nurse in James Paget it would mean people from this area wouldn't have to travel to take part in the trials.'

The two-week-long walk will start and end in Pakefield and go via Walberswick, Halesworth, Diss, along the Peddars Way to Sheringham and back down the coast through Cromer, Waxham and Caister.

Christine will be setting off from the Green at Pakefield on May 27 at 10.30am, which is the day after Emily's birthday. She is urging people to show their support by joining her for the first part of the route to Walberswick.

Christine will be joined for much of the route by her future daughter-in-law Jo Reynolds, 25, who is a practice manager at Westwood Surgery in Lowestoft.

Christine's husband George, their children David, Gareth, Vicky and Rob and Christine's sister Francis Stone are also expected to join her for part of the walk.

Christine works as a bakery manager at Morrison's in Pakefield, where Emily also worked in the cake shop. There will be collection tins in all of the supermarket's Norfolk stores between May 27 and June 9.

There will also be sponsor forms with Christine's family and friends.

Visit myprojects.cancerresearchuk.org and search for walking for emily to donate online.