THREE charities which gave "amazing" support to a young West Somerset woman as she battled terminal cancer are set to benefit from the fundraising efforts of her family and friends.

Teacher Emma Harris, from Alcombe, died at the end of March, aged just 29, after a year-long fight against the disease.

But during her months of treatment and hospital admissions she and her husband Justin spoke about raising money for the organisations which helped them cope through such a terrifying time.

Now Justin has set himself a challenge which he has no idea if he will be able to pull off – to climb three mountains in 24 hours.

The Three Peaks, Three Charities, One Goal bid will see Justin and three friends walk up and down Ben Nevis in Scotland, Scafell Pike in the Lake District and Snowdon in Wales.

Their efforts will boost the funds of St Margaret's Hospice in Taunton, the Bristol-based Penny Brohn Centre, which offers an holistic approach for cancer sufferers, and Hope for Tomorrow, a charity dedicated to bringing cancer treatment closer to patients' homes with mobile chemotherapy units.

Justin will be joined by Richard Henson, John Webber and Tom White – all from West Somerset – with another friend Richard Parsons taking on the role of driver and Richard Henson's partner Alice Dolan acting as co-pilot and provisions manager.

The four walkers, whose friendships were forged on the rugby field as members of Minehead Barbarians, set themselves a target of raising a total of £3,000 - £1,000 for each peak.

But within nine days of going public with an online fundraising page, supporters, including local businesses, had pledged more than £5,205.

And the money continues to roll in.

"I'm incredibly grateful and touched by how people have responded," said Justin.

"I'm doing this in Emma's memory because it's giving me a focus and it's the only way I know how to deal with what has happened.

"We talked about raising funds for these three charities because in their different ways they gave us such amazing and incredible support that helped us massively through what was a very testing time.

"They all need our help financially as they rely almost totally on donations.

"But the generosity shown by so many people so far does make me appreciate how special Emma was and how much everyone thought of her.

"I'm not sure if we can do this challenge – it's going to be tough but we're all fairly fit and we're certainly going to try our hardest."

Justin and his fellow trekkers are already in training for the trio of climbs which they will undertake in July.

They are banking on completing Ben Nevis in four hours, Snowdon in four and a half and Scafell – the most difficult – in five and a half.

"Whether we succeed or not will depend very much on the weather and the traffic," said Justin.

"But we want to give something back to these three charities and this is the only way we know how."

Of the money raised so far, £1,500 has come from three companies – Dave Harris Construction, run by Justin's brother, boiler manufacturers Worcester Bosch in association with local plumber Ross Cox, and Pointer Properties, Richard Parsons' employers.

Anyone wanting to support the challenge with a donation can do so at Justin's online GoFundMe page at http://www.gofundme.com/us7eb37y">http://www.gofundme.com/us7eb37y.