A Dungannon woman is tackling five Mournes summits in a bid to raise awareness of pancreatic cancer in Northern Ireland.
Shannon McCaul has upped the stakes for herself by wearing a 10kg vest while taking on the physical challenge on November 27, her grandad's anniversary.
The 21-year-old and her family lost Alfie to pancreatic cancer in 2020, just three weeks after he was diagnosed.
Read more: Sharon Rooney tributes after death of 'inspirational' Belfast mum-of-two
She said the loss inspired her to try and help raise awareness for others who are facing the same battle and laid out why she had chosen certain aspects of the challenge.
"It'll be starting from Ott carpark, then doing Loughshannagh, Meelbeg, Meelmore, then on to Commedagh, over to Donard and down into Donard carpark," she told Belfast Live.
"All the numbers mean something - I have a 10kg vest on because every year there's 10,000 people in Northern Ireland diagnosed with cancer.
"I took on the five summits to represent the roughly 200 people a week that get diagnosed, 30 a day.
"And I'm trying to raise £850 because there's about 850 people diagnosed every month."
It is not the first physical challenge Shannon has battled through in memory of Alfie - last year her and her family organised a 48 hour running challenge on Alfie's first anniversary.
She said the suddenness of her grandfather's death was something the family thought they would never have to deal with.
"We were hit so fast, it took the whole family by surprise, he was grand one week and then he was in a bed the next week," she said.
"He was diagnosed at the start of November 2020 and by the end of it he was gone.
"Those three weeks we all sacrificed our own lives, I know my mother and myself stayed with him every night for those three weeks.
"It had a massive effect on our family and I just want to raise awareness that this does happen to a lot of families and there does need to be a bit more awareness and a bit more help for families as well."
She said she had nothing but fond memories of her grandad though and the impact he had on their family.
"Granda was such a family man, he had seven kids, with mummy being the youngest," she added.
"He was 84 when he passed away, but he was always on the go, you never would have put Granda out of his step.
"He would have lifted us all from school.
"He would have been really close with Karla my wee sister, she was 10 and him and her would have went everywhere together.
"I was a bit older so I would have been at work or in school, but they were thick as thieves, we all were really."
Shannon has been training with her partner in the Mournes already and said that she will draw strength from the thought of those battling, when she hits the difficult parts of her challenge.
"We were up in the Mournes last Saturday and we were going through a tough patch because the weather was kind of against us," she said.
"I suppose you have to stop and think there are others who are dealing with so much every day and I only have to deal with this for these six hours or whatever."
Shannon is raising funds for the Cancer Focus charity in Northern Ireland and you can donate to her efforts here.
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