Mum to walk marathon in memory of five-year-old daughter
search

The latest Jewish News

Read this week’s digital edition

Click Here

Mum to walk marathon in memory of five-year-old daughter

Juliet Berman and her friends will walk 26 miles to raise money for Shani’s Brighter Future Fund at Great Ormond Street Hospital

Jake Levison is an intern at Jewish News

Five-year-old Immanuel College pupil Shani Berman passed away, after being diagnosed with a congenital heart defect at six weeks old.
Five-year-old Immanuel College pupil Shani Berman passed away, after being diagnosed with a congenital heart defect at six weeks old.

The mother of a five-year-old girl who died from a rare heart condition is to walk an overnight marathon in her memory.

Shani Berman suffered from a congenital heart defect called pulmonary atresia from birth and passed away in January after surgery complications.

Juliet Berman, along with a group of friends from Elstree and Borehamwood, will walk 26 miles overnight next week order to raise funds for Shani’s Brighter Future Fund at Great Ormond Street Hospital, as well as for Cancer Research.

The group of 18 women, who have named themselves “Shine For Shani”, will complete the Shine Night Walk on 23 September, starting in Southwark and going round the sites of London.

All the walkers raising money in memory of Shani Berman.
All the walkers raising money in memory of Shani Berman. Shani’s mum Juliet is standing up on the left by the wall, whilst Judith Friedman, who set up the walking team, is on the floor third from the left

Juliet told Jewish News of how the walk was originally solely in aid of Cancer Research, but soon Shani became a large inspiration. She said: “we wanted to do it for all our friends who have had experiences with cancer, and also in memory of my daughter, who we lost last year.

Shani herself understood that hers was a "magic heart" that meant she sometimes needed to rest
Shani herself understood that hers was a “magic heart” that meant she sometimes needed to rest

“We didn’t lose her to cancer… but she was a member of the community – a loved member of the community, and we felt that raising money for Cancer Research and also giving some of the money to Shani’s fund at Great Ormond Street was the right thing.”

Shine for Shani’s fundraising page has reached a running total of £9,376.00, with the target currently set at £10k. However, Juliet believes that the target could be beaten.

She said: “Well we started at £8k and then decided to up it to £10k, because we may as well go for it. I’m silently hoping we can reach £15k!”

You can view the fundraising page by clicking here

Support your Jewish community. Support your Jewish News

Thank you for helping to make Jewish News the leading source of news and opinion for the UK Jewish community. Today we're asking for your invaluable help to continue putting our community first in everything we do.

For as little as £5 a month you can help sustain the vital work we do in celebrating and standing up for Jewish life in Britain.

Jewish News holds our community together and keeps us connected. Like a synagogue, it’s where people turn to feel part of something bigger. It also proudly shows the rest of Britain the vibrancy and rich culture of modern Jewish life.

You can make a quick and easy one-off or monthly contribution of £5, £10, £20 or any other sum you’re comfortable with.

100% of your donation will help us continue celebrating our community, in all its dynamic diversity...

Engaging

Being a community platform means so much more than producing a newspaper and website. One of our proudest roles is media partnering with our invaluable charities to amplify the outstanding work they do to help us all.

Celebrating

There’s no shortage of oys in the world but Jewish News takes every opportunity to celebrate the joys too, through projects like Night of Heroes, 40 Under 40 and other compelling countdowns that make the community kvell with pride.

Pioneering

In the first collaboration between media outlets from different faiths, Jewish News worked with British Muslim TV and Church Times to produce a list of young activists leading the way on interfaith understanding.

Campaigning

Royal Mail issued a stamp honouring Holocaust hero Sir Nicholas Winton after a Jewish News campaign attracted more than 100,000 backers. Jewish Newsalso produces special editions of the paper highlighting pressing issues including mental health and Holocaust remembrance.

Easy access

In an age when news is readily accessible, Jewish News provides high-quality content free online and offline, removing any financial barriers to connecting people.

Voice of our community to wider society

The Jewish News team regularly appears on TV, radio and on the pages of the national press to comment on stories about the Jewish community. Easy access to the paper on the streets of London also means Jewish News provides an invaluable window into the community for the country at large.

We hope you agree all this is worth preserving.

read more: