Thank you for visiting our JustGiving page.

 

What we're doing and why:

We are running the Birmingham Half Marathon on Sunday 11th October 2009 in memory of William Bonner who passed away from Cancer on Tuesday 26th May 2009.

 

Team:

Our running team consists of Andrea Everson, John Everson and Nick Layfield with finish line cheering and shouty support from Fran Bonner and Lisa Weselby.

 

William Bonner:

Will was a Lance Corporal in the 2nd Battalion The Royal Anglian Regiment, The Poachers.  He served with the Battalion from 2003 up until he became ill in September 2008.  He was part of operational tours in Afghanistan, Northern Ireland and twice in Iraq.  It was whilst on R'n'R leave during his second tour of Iraq that we found out about his illness.

 

Will's cancer was a soft tissue Sarcoma.  He received the highest doses of Chemotherapy drugs but the disease, which was extremely aggressive, spread and developed within an eight month period.  Will, a very fit and healthy man died, aged 25.

 

Sarcoma:

Sarcomas are cancers of connective tissue - bone, muscle, nerves, fatty tissue, cartilage etc. They are rare, accounting for about 1% of all cancer diagnoses, or around 2400 cases altogether in the UK each year. 

Sarcoma is regarded as an 'orphan' cancer, which means that it has few relationships with other more common cancers. It is also a rare disease and thus active research into new treatments is not regarded as a priority by many in the scientific or pharmaceutical world. This means that new treatments, particularly drug treatments for advanced sarcoma, are badly needed. (Sarcoma UK, May 2001).

We are raising money for the Sarcoma Trust not only so that research into this rare disease continues, helping to produce new drugs to help fight it, but so that we can raise awareness about Sarcoma. 

 

Poachers Wristband Appeal:

As well as raising money for the Sarcoma Trust we are also raising money for the Poachers Wristband Appeal.