A MOTHER will arrive in Sussex next week on her “walk of love” in memory of her daughter.

Natalia Spencer, 41, took on the 6,000-mile journey to support a hospital charity after her daughter, Elizabeth, five, died last year.

Elizabeth fell ill with a relatively common virus which triggered a rare autoimmune condition.

After 18 days on life support, she died in December 2015.

Elizabeth loved the seaside and Natalia said she felt closer to her daughter at the coast.

Six weeks later Natalia set off from Durdle Door in Dorset, the last beach she and Elizabeth visited together.

Since then she has walked more 6,000 miles around the British coastline and is on track to finish back at Durdle Door on Tuesday, February 7.

On Tuesday she arrives in Sussex and will be taking in Eastbourne and Beachy Head.

She has beaten her £100,000 target and attracted more than 10,000 followers on Facebook.

Now she has been named Endurance Fundraiser of the Year for 2016 by JustGiving.

Natalia said: “Throughout the last year I have been determined to do absolutely everything I can and more to justify the tragic loss of my daughter and to create a lasting and beautiful celebration of her short but bright, life on earth.

“It has been an incredible journey in which I have been touched by the kindness and generosity of so many strangers.

“So much good has come out of my tragedy and I plan to continue my fundraising with new projects over the coming months.

“I can’t think of a better way to create an amazing legacy for my precious Elizabeth than to help other critically ill children in the future.”

Natalia, from Cheltenham, is fundraising for Bristol Children’s Hospital, one of the UK’s leading children’s hospitals.

It covers the largest catchment area of any children’s hospital in England and treats more than 100,000 children each year.

It is the paediatric intensive care centre for the whole South West region.

The hospital is a specialist centre of excellence.