The Gazette has launched a campaign with Meningitis UK to help find a vaccine against the most common strain of the disease, the meningitis B group. The campaign aims to raise £40,000 by this time next year. The amount will fund the work of a vaccine researcher for a whole year. This week, reporter Ali Dent talks to a student who will be trekking across the arctic to raise funds in memory of her sister.

A STUDENT is about to embark on a husky trek across the arctic to raise funds to eradicate the disease which killed her sister.

Katie Hanks has set herself the gruelling eight-day challenge over some of the world’s most inhospitable terrain in memory of her sister Beverley, who was 19 when she died suddenly from meningitis in 2001.

Katie, 25, of Pilning. leaves for the 250km trek from Lapland to the outer Arctic Circle next month.

She said: "I wanted to do something that Beverley would be proud of, something that would push me to my limits.

"It’s going to be very hard work but I’m determined to complete it and raise as much money as possible."

Katie was a teenager when her older sister began complaining of a headache in January 2001. Within hours, Beverley had been rushed to hospital and slipped into a coma.

She died from a brain haemorrhage caused by the meningococcal septicaemia form of meningitis.

"Within a few hours, my once bubbly and vivacious 19-year-old sister was lying helpless in a hospital bed," said Katie, who is studying Health, Community, Social Care and Psychology at Gloucestershire University.

"She was taken to Frenchay where they did an MRI scan. They realised it was meningitis but she was soon declared brain dead. "We were all devastated. I had lost my sister in just four hours."

Meningococcal septicaemia occurs when bacteria enter the blood stream and multiply uncontrollably, poisoning the blood and completely overwhelming the immune system.

There is no known cure but Meningitis UK has launched its Search 4 a Vaccine campaign, which aims to raise £7million to fund research for developing a vaccine against Meningitis B - the most common form of meningitis in the UK. Meningitis B accounts for almost 90 percent of all cases, including the strain which killed Beverley.

Katie, who lives at Keens Grove when she returns from university in Cheltenham at the weekends, was in the same Marlwood School class as Stevie Dayman, the son of Alveston-based Meningitis UK founder Steve and brother of Spencer, who died of the disease at the age of just one in 1982.

"I am hoping to raise between £2,000 and £3,000 and am splitting the money between Meningitis UK and Meningitis Research," said Katie.

"Losing Bev was one of the worst experiences of my life but by raising money I hope I can prevent other families going through the same heartache and devastation."

Said Steve Dayman: "Katie’s efforts in memory of Beverley are really remarkable and we wish her the best of luck with the husky trek.

"Meningitis UK has a single focus – to find a vaccine to eradicate meningitis. Every bit of help is so important in enabling us to continue our vital work.

"Our ultimate goal is to spare families the heartache Katie’s family have suffered by losing a loved one to meningitis."

To sponsor Katie go to www.justgiving.com/katiehanks1 * Please support the Gazette in this important campaign either by making a donation online by clicking on the campaign logo at www.gazetteseries.co.uk or by filling in the coupon on this page, by attending a fundraising event later in the year or by holding an event yourself.

Ideas for fundraising events can be found by visiting www.meningitisuk.org or by calling Meningitis UK on 01179 373 7373.

We promise to give every event held in support of this campaign plenty of publicity and every month we will publish the roll of honour of everyone who has made a donation, large or small.

And who knows, the work that is done as a result of the campaign this year could just be that which comes up with the ultimate goal - a vaccine.