Two men have raised £4,500 after completing an exhausting fundraising challenge in memory of a Braithwaite woman who died suddenly after suffering a heart attack, aged 29.
Megan Stephenson died at the Cumberland Infirmary, Carlisle, on March 18 last year, an hour-and-a-half after having an operation to fit stents into her heart.
She had been admitted a week earlier after a heart attack.
Her family later learned that Megan had lived most of her adult life with underlying heart conditions.
Her fiance, Stuart Green, a painter and decorator from Carlisle, and estate agent Glenn Howard, also from the city, each did hour-long shifts on a static exercise bike for 24 hours covering the equivalent distance of Carlisle to Paris to raise the money for the hospital’s cardiology department.
They each did hour-long shifts and raised £4,500 for the department.
The money will be used to buy much-needed equipment.
Megan was brought up in Braithwaite and attended the village primary school before Keswick School.
She had worked as a bar supervisor at the town’s Royal Oak and at the time of her death was working to support vulnerable young adults at Pebbles Care, Wigton.
Previously she had been a supervisor at Hobbycraft in Carlisle.
Her funeral took place during the first lockdown and dozens of people lined the streets in Braithwaite to pay their respects.
It was one of the first to be held under coronavirus restrictions and Megan’s brother Luke, spoke about the experience on Radio 4.
Luke said Stu and Glenn had initially looked to raise £1,000 through a JustGiving page they set up, but interest rocketed and the pair were delighted with the final amount.
