For those of you not in Bude, a school friend and hugely loved character in my local community, Talan Penny, passed away on 4 May, at the age of 19, after a brave battle against Rhabdomyosarcoma, a form of childhood cancer. You probably haven’t heard of Rhab until you really wish you didn’t have to, and as hard as it is to say, it’s even harder to cure - there are currently no effective targeted treatments for the aggressive form of these tumours. Talan was an incredibly genuine, bubbly and kind person, and his strength in fighting this horrible disease has touched so many of us in Bude.

On 19th November, I (alongside a lot of my lovely hometown) will be running 19km in memory of Talan (1km for every year of his far too short life) to raise money for Talan’s Trust, which supports the Chris Lucas Trust, which funds research into Rhab. They work on treatments to prolong life expectancy, with the ultimate goal of finding an effective cure - so fewer families have to say goodnight to their lions. I’ve linked a video below, which outlines some of the wonderful work the Foundation is doing, and the hope they're bringing to families.

http://www.chrislucastrust.com/about.html

https://www.facebook.com/lynn.lucas.583/posts/10155416021693387

The last time I ran a race was the 800m in year 8 sports day, but training since June has turned this laughable idea into a reality. I’m so pleased to be able to be part of this amazing event raising money for such an important, woefully underfunded cause (children’s cancer funding receives less than 1.5% of annual funds raised, and in the last 77 years, only 3 new drugs have been made to treat childhood cancer [source: Glow Gold September]), and I would be so incredibly, eternally grateful if you were able to donate to Talan's Trust by sponsoring me. Any amount at all would be so gratefully received.

Let's raise awareness of this little known disease #itsnotrare