Woman's 700-mile bike ride from France to North East after daughter and grandson's crash deaths
A woman whose daughter and grandson died in a crash on the A1 in County Durham has begun a 700-mile cycle ride from France to the North East.
Alison Warner's daughter Karlene Warner, 30, and eight-month-old Zackary Blades lost their lives in the collision caused by a speeding drunk driver earlier this year.
The pair were being driven by Zacakary's mother, Shalorna Warner, when it was hit by Darryl Anderson on the southbound carriageway, near Chester-le-Street, on 31 May.
Anderson was jailed for more than 17 years in July for causing death by dangerous driving.
Shalorna had to deliver the news to her family, including parents Alison and Nigel, who live in France.
Speaking about that night Alison said: "I will never forget that phone call I received from my distressed daughter Shalorna telling me she had been in a car accident and that my other daughter Karlene wasn't breathing and that she couldn't find Zackery, her eight month year old baby.
"None of this seemed real and I kept praying to god, 'please don't take my daughter's baby'.
"As a mother you just want to protect your children but I couldn't doing anything. I couldn't protect them from Darryl Anderson - a 38-year-old man who got into his car nearly three times over the limit and took pictures on his phone of his speed monitor to boast of 141 miles per hour."
The grieving mother and grandmother said that after weeks of going through the worst times, she wants to make the lives of others better.
She is taking on a 700-mile bike ride from her home in Chatain, in France, to Coundon, near Bishop Auckland, to raise money for a Haven Room at Darlington Memorial Hospital.
Her family gathered at a similar room at the Royal Victoria Infirmary, in Newcastle, which they said helped at an unthinkably difficult time.
Alison said: "Not all hospitals have these rooms. These rooms give family some privacy which is much needed in these circumstances.
"I'm not a cyclist but I've been doing lots of training the last eight weeks. My husband has converted a van for somewhere we can sleep and he'll meet me at different destinations.
"People ask me if I am going to be able to do this challenge but the challenge for me is living without them.
"I hope to finish the bike ride on Karlene's birthday on the 25th of October and we are going to have a big party because she would have been 31."
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