British Indian family plans 'Tuk Tuk to Turkey' ride for charity

An Indian-origin family are preparing to set off on a "Tuk Tuk to Turkey" charity tour from London to Istanbul to raise funds and awareness in memory of a family member's sudden epilepsy death over five years ago.

Bharat Sumaria will be joined by wife Rachel and daughter Amy and her boyfriend, James, when he sets off in an Indian autorickshaw next month in memory of his younger daughter, Emily, who succumbed to the lesser-known condition called the Sudden Unexpected Death in Epilepsy (SUDEP) in December 2012.

"Tuk Tuk To Turkey is our family's way of taking the tragedy of Emily's death and turning it into something positive," the family said on their fundraising page for the initiative.

"Over the past five years we have seen incredible fundraising efforts from her wonderful friends and Leeds university hockey team. They've totally inspired and motivated us to do something so far out of our collective comfort zone, and it's going to be a massive challenge," they said.

"Why a tuk tuk? We're taking it back to Emily's Indian heritage and we're going to call it after her nickname, Sumo," Rachel said.

Emily, a geography student at Leeds University, was found dead by her housemates in her college accommodation. The family was preparing for a holiday to Cuba when it received the shocking news.

The family recalls: "It truly was so sudden and so unexpected. Whilst Emily had epilepsy she was on medication and you could count on one hand the number of seizures she'd had.

"Her epilepsy was fully controlled and it was four months before we knew from the coroner that Emily had died from SUDEP: Sudden Unexpected Death in Epilepsy. We had never heard of it and never been warned that it was a risk we are determined to change that."