A former teaching assistant whose son died last year of an undetected heart condition is climbing Mount Kilimanjaro to raise money in his memory.

Charlie Ibrahimi, who grew up in Teddington and attended Esher College, died in October 2013 of cardiomyopathy, a disease of the heart muscle.

His mother, Cathy, 47, is hoping to raise £5,000 for charity Cardiac Risk in the Young (Cry), by climbing Africa’s highest peak with her sister, Teresa Driver and friend Sarah Goodwin.

Ms Ibrahimi, of Albert Road, said: "Charlie was a fun loving, popular young man with a winning smile.

"He was the one people would turn to for help and advice, the sort of person that you could rely on when things seemed to go wrong."

The trio have raised more than £3,000 already, and leave for the seven-day climb up to the 5.9km peak on January 29.

Ms Ibrahami said: "The biggest challenge is the altitude - 20 per cent of people don’t make it all the way because they succumb to altitude sickness.

"But if we can raise awareness and enough money to help prevent another young person dying and another family going through what we are going through then we will have achieved something."

Donate at uk.virginmoneygiving.com/CathyIbrahimi.