Marathon competitor Lynn Ashton reached Tower Bridge on Tuesday

Lynn Ashton's lungs were damaged in a fire at her home in Huntingdon, Cambs, on Christmas Day six years ago.

On Tuesday she passed London Bridge - halfway round the 26.2-mile course which she aims to complete on Thursday.

Mrs Ashton, 45, took up the five miles a day challenge to draw attention to the plight of people with lung disease.

Her lungs were damaged when a candle set light to a plastic table cloth and she inhaled the fumes.

'Worthwhile challenge'

She cannot go anywhere without a portable oxygen pack, which she is pushing round the course on a trolley.

"It is a big but very worthwhile challenge - if I manage to complete what I want to do," she said.

"Six years ago I didn't have a very good prognosis but I feel I am doing fairly well now and I wanted to do something to raise the profile of lung disease and the British Lung Foundation."

She is hoping to raise £5,000.