A WINDERMERE hotelier who wants to run a half marathon before she is 50 is in training to raise money for a good cause.

Caroline Kaye, who owns the Cedar Manor Hotel with husband Jonathan, has a place in this year’s Great North Run in September.

Caroline, who started running only two years ago, is fundraising for the charity Lupus UK.

She is being assisted by parents and friends of Windermere Prep School who are holding a charity coffee morning for the same cause.

Lupus is a rare and complex condition which attacks the body’s immune system, and Caroline’s 21-year-old daughter Natalie is a sufferer.

“She was diagnosed when she was 15, but it had taken two years to identify from when she first showed symptoms,” said Caroline, who will be 49 next week.

“That’s not unusual as the condition is very difficult to identify. We are helping the charity in their attempts to research the causes, and possible treatments, for Lupus.”

Natalie is a beauty advisor and make-up artist for Estee Lauder at Selfridges in London.

Younger sister Elizabeth, seven, a pupil at Windermere Prep School, is playing her part by helping Caroline’s training efforts — she goes alongside on her bicycle when mum goes for a run.

The Windermere school coffee morning will be held on Friday, May 9.

On the following day, which is World Lupus Awareness Day, Caroline will stage an afternoon tea party in the gardens at the Cedar Manor.

She said: “Local people, and our visitors, are very generous. I know that there are many demands on people’s kindness, and I think it is important that we raise attention to a cause which is not well known.”

Caroline can be sponsored by going to http://www.justgiving.com/CarolineKaye

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Lupus affects mostly female patients, and symptoms may include fatigue, eye problems, mouth ulcers, joint or muscle pain, rashes, anaemia and miscarriage.

More information from www.lupusuk.org.uk