A Braintree mum has so much love for animals that she is running a marathon for them.

Jaime O’Donnell-Smith, 35, of Park Drive, will take on the gruelling Paris marathon today to raise money for the RSPCA Danaher animal home, based in Wethersfield, near Braintree.

Once the Paris marathon is over, the mum-of-two, who works in real estate for the Balearic Islands, wants to tackle all the major marathons in the world.

Mrs O’Donnell-Smith, who is a presenter for Braintree’s community radio station Leisure FM, said: “Danaher has quite a special place in my heart.

“We had three guinea pigs on the show once - they are called Muff, Richard Parker and Paramox - and, of course, a couple of weeks later they were home with me and we adopted them."

See this week's Braintree Times for the full story.