VIKA Engel is under starter’s orders to get one of the county’s best ever fund-raising efforts up and running again – all in memory of her brother.

Nearly £1 million was raised in the name of Laurie Engel to help build a new teenage cancer unit at Birmingham Children’s Hospital (BCH).

The appeal was launched not long after a rare and aggressive cancer took Laurie’s 13-year-old life in 2005.

Vika, from Bacton in the Golden Valley, has now lived longer without Laurie than with him. Seven when Laurie died, she turns 15 next month just days before he would have turned 21.

By then she’ll be ready for the ride of her life.

BCH now needs another £4m for a much needed refurbishment of the rest of its cancer department.

That’s £40,000 for each of the 100 miles Vika will cover in crossing Wales from Borth beach to the border at Hay-on-Wye and all that’s in between.

On May 26, Vika – who would ride “all day and all night” according to dad Matthew – sets out on the epic ride with her pony Sparkle.

Vika will be accompanied by at least one adult on each day of the ride. The hope is that the Pony Club will provide “outriders” for the last leg.

Vika, a pupil a Lucton School, belongs to both the Golden Valley Hunt branch of the Pony Club and Hereford and District Riding Club.

She loves show-jumping and endurance riding, taking every opportunity to ride Sparkle on her family’s farm and around the lanes and commons of the Golden Valley.

The ride will be a new adventure for Sparkle as well, an 11-year-old 14.3 hands chestnut gelding born wild on Clee Hill.

He and Vika have been together for two years.

She’s putting him through a careful fitness programme to prepare him for the long ride. Right now he’ll probably do the first and last days of the route, with Vika riding one or two other horses in between.

Crewing will be provided by Matthew and his wife Hilary, together with additional drivers.

“It will be another steep learning curve,” said Matthew.

Like the learning curve the Engels found themselves on soon after Laurie died, his last wish being that his death made a difference.

Matthew and Hilary freely admit that they had no idea what they were getting into when they first starting fund-raising in Laurie’s name.

Their first thoughts were to get around £10,000 for the Teenage Cancer Trust and its work towards a network of special teen cancer wards across the country.

But from that first Hereford Times story, the response was remarkable.

The day a farmer from “over the valley” called at the Engel home with £10 on the back of what he had heard about Laurie, they knew what their boy was going to do, sustained always by the thought of what he could have done.

By 2008 the fund was closing in on the £1m mark. By 2009 the unit was open.

For the Engels, though, it was the personal stories invested in the sum raised that accounted for its real worth.

Laurie, says Matthew, inspired individuals to do remarkable things. Now it is his sister’s turn.

à Cheques can be made payable to BCH charities (LEF) and sent to Fair Oak, Bacton, Herefordshire HR2 OAT.

For more information or offers of help, participation and sponsorship, email hilary.engel@gmail.com.