A PHYSIOTHERAPY student will be running her first marathon to raise funds to help vulnerable patients in the Philippines.

Caroline Slater, a student at the University of Central Lancashire, plans to go out next year to a crowded hospital in the city of Dumaguete to work with patients with severe arthritis, cerebral palsy and muscular problems.

The 29-year-old is also organising as part of her course to go to a rural area of the country to help some of the under-resourced clinics and health centres.

Miss Slater, who lives in Darwen, will be looking for £2,000 in sponsorship for the Yorkshire Marathon, which will be used to get her to South East Asia and pay for some equipment such as resistance bands.

Miss Slater said: "Going out to the Philippines really took my fancy because of the variety of things I would be doing out there.

"I'll be working with all ages from elderly patients to children.

"Often I'll be in quite stressful situations, as the hospitals out there don't really work to appointments, people just come in and wait so it gets crowded.

"People do not seek healthcare early enough out there, very often because of the costs, so many people will have let their conditions get quite severe.

"The reason I do physiotherapy is to reduce suffering and improve the quality of life of my patients and I hope I can make a difference out there.

"I felt like a marathon was fitting so I can practice what I preach about being healthy and feel like I'm pushing towards something rather than just asking for money to go out there."

Miss Slater, who has never volunteered abroad before, said she had ambitions in the future to work with people who musculosketal disorders which includes more than 200 different conditions affecting joints, bones and muscles.

She will be aiming to teach people out in the Philippines how to best manage their conditions and try and increase their movement and exercise levels so their lives are less difficult and stressful.

She will be running the marathon in York on Sunday, October 8.

She said: "I developed a love for running when I joined the beginners group at Darwen Running Group.

"I've got some 10k days and half marathon's lined up as well as hopefully, if I put my mind to it, I can achieve it."

To sponsor Miss Slater visit www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/physio-srilanka.