The tireless charity fundraiser Jane Tomlinson has died. The mother-of-three took up running after being diagnosed with terminal cancer in 2000 and told she had six months to live.
In the following seven years she raised £1.75m for charities, most of it through feats of endurance which included cycling from Italy to Yorkshire and across the US, as well as numerous marathons and gruelling ironman events.
Tomlinson's endeavours attracted extensive media attention. Her husband, Mike, blogged about the eight-week journey from San Francisco to New York last year.
Earlier this year, she wrote in the Guardian about the "buzz" of taking on a new challenge.
Tomlinson was not without her critics. Some said she was selfish for what they believed was putting the fundraising above her children (the youngest is now nine). Some believed she was setting the fundraising bar too high. To the family's distress, some even doubted Tomlinson had cancer at all.
To other - probably most - people, however, Tomlinson's feats were an inspiration.
