A MOTHER from Stourport-on-Severn who lost her teenage son six years ago is setting off on a charity bike ride to raise money for a specialist clinic which has helped her other son cope with a chronic illness.

Marianne Kiely's son John Davies died, aged 17, of acute alcohol poisoning after an evening spent drinking lager and vodka - a tragedy she says she is only just coming to terms with.

Just nine months after his death, her other son Daniel, 13 at the time, was diagnosed with diabetes after collapsing at home.

Miss Kiely, 42, of Princess Way, said: "Daniel was close to his elder brother and doctors said his diabetes had been brought on by the shock of his death."

While she coped with the grief of losing John she said she had to watch helplessly as Daniel refused to accept his condition and became ill with one acute diabetic episode after another.

She said: "He would not accept it and would not take his insulin, making him very ill, so he was in and out of hospital."

Throughout this period she said the Diabetic Clinic, based at Kidderminster Hospital, supported Daniel.

She said: "They were brilliant. They would maintain contact with him and even go out to see him. They explained to him the importance of taking his medication and seemed to be able to get through to him where I couldn't."

It was thanks to their help and support Daniel, now 19 and living in Worcester, is a stable diabetic leading a normal, active and happy life, she said.

"A lot of it is thanks to their help and I wanted to do something to help the clinic," she said.

"It is also about me getting my life back on track after John's death. It is about doing something positive," she added.

No stranger to campaigning - she worked to get help for the young homeless after the death of John who had spells of living rough - she will set off from the clinic on Saturday at 10am with daughter Rebecca, 12, also doing the ride.

She said: "We will ride our bikes until 6pm collecting for the clinic at shops, garages and pubs on the way. We plan to do about 40 miles, stop overnight, and then 40 miles back on Sunday."

Money raised would help the clinic which is trying to raise £2,500 for new equipment and to open another room she said.