A woman from Sutton has set herself the challenge to climb Mount Snowdon for St Raphaels Hospice at night.

Emma Burns, Corporate Fundraiser at St Raphael's Hospice, says she wanted to help her patients further by getting herself involved in a fundraising challenge.

The thoughtful 25-year-old started working at St Raphael's in January and has been running everyday to help herself prepare for the hike.

Just after the pandemic started, Emma was furloughed and decided to use her spare time to train for the challenge.

St Raphael Hospice has to fundraise £4 million a year to run their services and have estimated a loss of £1.8million this year due to the pandemic.

So far, Emma has raised just over £300 for the hospice and hopes to raise much more before her hike which takes place in August.

Speaking to Local Guardian, Emma Burns, said: "When I first started my role, my friends used to ask how I could work at a hospice.

"But I can honestly say I have learnt more about living than I have about dying.

"I am so proud to work for St Raphael's and knew that I had to throw myself in at the deep end and challenge myself.

"It's predicted to take 5-7 hours to hike up and 2-3 on the way down all whilst in the pitch black.

"Right now I get out of breath walking up a few flights of stairs.

'I'm so passionate about helping the hospice and bringing the community together."

Speaking on the impact Covid-19 has had financially on the hospice, Emma added: "As you can imagine, we have really been on the frontline of this pandemic and pulling together as a community to make things work moving forward.

"With all of our events, unfortunately, being cancelled for the year, we’re going to have to look towards other means of raising funds for the hospice.

"However small the donation, it all adds up and we need it more than ever."

Emma is currently running a campaign where people donate what they would usually spend on a coffee each morning to St Raphael's Hospice.

Donations reached £308.50 at the time of publishing.

If you would like to donate, visit at Fundraising for St Raphaels Hospice