FIVE years ago this week, Muhammad Ali was an “angel” and a “God-sent blessing to this Earth”, his brother Rahman said as it was revealed he died from septic shock caused by “unspecified natural causes”.

The Northern Echo’s report on Muhammad Ali’s death

The Northern Echo’s report on Muhammad Ali’s death

The three-time world heavyweight champion, who had battled Parkinson’s disease for 32 years, died in Phoenix, Arizona, after being admitted to hospital with a respiratory condition on Monday.

His funeral was to take place in his home town of Louisville, Kentucky where flags had been flying at half-mast since his death was announced.

Ali died at 9.10pm local time, his spokesman Bob Gunnell said at the time, surrounded by his family for the last hour of his life.

One of his daughters, Hana Ali, said that his heart would not stop beating for 30 minutes after all his other organs failed.

Writing on Instagram at the time, she said: “No one had even seen anything like it.”

She said family members were hugging and kissing him, holding his hands and chanting an Islamic prayer while his heart kept beating and called it a “true testament to the strength of his spirit and will”.

Also that week, a Durham University student took the first steps in a poignant 950-mile journey on foot to the battlefields of the Somme.

Durham University student Jordan Blunsom sets off on his 950-mile walk from Durham City to The Somme to raisemoney for Walking with the Wounded charity

Durham University student Jordan Blunsom sets off on his 950-mile walk from Durham City to The Somme to raisemoney for Walking with the Wounded charity

The Northern Echo’s report on the university students walk to the Somme

The Northern Echo’s report on the university students walk to the Somme

Jordan Blunsom, 22 at the time, was to walk more than 30 miles a day over 31 days, raising cash for the veterans’ charity Walking with the Wounded.

He was to arrive at the battlefields just in time to take part in the 100th anniversary commemorations of the bloodiest battle of the First World War – having taken around 1,900,000 steps in the process.

Jordan – who coordinated and managed the planning of the walk himself – embarked on the epic trek from Durham University’s Palace Green Library, which was hosting a major exhibition ‘Somme 1916: From Durham to the Western Front’.

The Durham University exhibition marked the involvement of the people of Durham and the North-East in the battle.

Jordan, a history student, was to make his way across England, take the ferry across the Channel and head for the Thiepval Memorial, in France, to be part of the centenary commemorations.

Meanwhile, a heartbroken mother was transforming wedding dresses into custom-made gowns for stillborn babies across the world.

Abra Wood, who is transforming wedding dresses into custom-made gowns for stillborn babies across the world

Abra Wood, who is transforming wedding dresses into custom-made gowns for stillborn babies across the world

The Northern Echo’s report on Abra Wood and her wedding dress transformations

The Northern Echo’s report on Abra Wood and her wedding dress transformations

The loss of Esmae-Grace inspired Darlington woman Abra Wood to help bereaved parents cope with the deaths of their children.

Through Angel Gowns with Love, Mrs Wood supplies hospitals and military bases across the world with packs including a burial gown and keepsakes, for the families of stillborn babies.

Esmae’s parents were stationed at a military base in Cyprus when they learned their second daughter had died in the womb in December 2014.

Working with a team of volunteer knitters and seamstresses, she had turned her hand to making tiny burial gowns from donated wedding dresses.