Thank you for visiting my page.I’m running the London Marathon to raise awareness and much needed funds to support Sarcoma UK. Sarcoma is a rare, hard to diagnose and treat cancer which only accounts for one in every one hundred diagnosed cancers. 

Some of you will know how Sarcoma has shaped the life of Joe my husband and our family over the past four and a half years and you would think that with such a rare cancer Joe would be one of a few very unlucky people to be diagnosed with this aggressive disease but it isn't the case. 

Many Sarcoma battles and stories are much closer than you would think and this is why this challenge is so personal and being ran in hounour of those peoples battles lost and ongoing. In Memory of Andy Battisson and Diana Dixon who lost their brave fights and in honour of Marcus Richmond who is currently under going treatment.

Joes brave fight spurred me on to challenge myself outside of my comfort zone but the many other people's battles against Sarcoma made me resolute in my decision to complete the London Marathon. 

Please help me raise as many pennies as possible to ensure Sarcoma UK can fund vital research projects looking for better treatments. Your donation will also raise awareness of the symptoms of sarcoma to help patients get an early diagnosis, and ensure everyone has access to specialist advice.

Thank you for your support.

Sarah x

Joe's Story

In July 2012, I was on the Isle of Wight on a family holiday. Sitting in the garden of our rented house for the week enjoying the sunshine and a glass of wine, I decided to ask my partner Sarah what she thought of the small lump in my arm, you could see it just under the skin above my elbow. Of course her reaction was to say I should get it checked out, both Sarah and I lost our fathers to cancer and Sarah is very careful and sensible in these maters.

It took sometime to find the time for a doctors appointment but eventually I managed to pull my finger out and make some space in my diary and pop to the docs, his reaction was as Sarah's, he wanted it checking out and a referral was made.

In the November of 2012 after X rays an ultrasound and a MRI I was diagnosed with Sarcoma in my right arm, a rare cancer which accounts for only one percent of diagnosed cancers. The whirlwind began and Robert Ashford my consultant booked me in for surgery in 3 days time for an excision of the tumour.

All went well and I took my self home to recover and get ready for Christmas. A positive margin was gained but due to the tumour siting on a nerve I was referred for a course of radio therapy in the new year.

January came pretty quick, and over the following six weeks I would turn up at the Osbourne Building at the LRI each day for a blast of radio therapy. I was given the highest dose possible to ensure we got it for good. 3 monthly check ups were to be scheduled.

Almost a year to the day in November 2013 I knocked my arm on the side of my bed, I felt a very memorable pain, a searing shock which I remembered well from the biopsy I had had a year earlier, I kept it to myself I was pretty sure what it was. A few days later I was complaining of some ailment to Sarah, she suggest I go to the doctors surgery, when I agreed straight away she was very suspicious as to the ease of my agreement. I told her of my knock and that was that I was at the health centre the very next morning.

A few scans later I was sat in Mr Ashfords consultation room yet again, I had a reoccurrence within the field of radiation, bells started ringing and all were concerned by the cancers radio resistance. It was like ground hog day, the next week I was again admitted, the tumour removed and I had time to recover before Christmas kicked in.

Next steps were tricky, what options did we have to ensure we didn't have a second reoccurrence? None, after many referrals and consultation it was decided we would wait for the second. If and when it occurred we would hit it hard with an ILP, this is where chemo is administered directly in the arm, due to it not being systemic much higher doses can be given.

Six months down the line, I felt that familiar pain in my arm. My friend was back! This time he has sent a buddy of his to make a home in my left lung. Once again I was under the knife. This time I was making friends with a new consultant, a chest surgeon, my circle of Sarcoma buddies was growing. The tumour was removed and I went home to yet again recover, this time though it wasn't the end of the battle. I had 6 weeks to get ready for my ILP. A visit to The Royal Marsden saw a date go in the diary and off we went. Mid August Sarah and I got on a train to London with packed bags for the next few days. Once again I woke up in a recovery room, bright white and well lit, this time I went to HDU for the night to monitor me and ensure I had coped with the treatment.

All went well until I'd been at home for a few days, it was a Sunday and we were expecting family for lunch. My brother was bringing it over but I didn't get to taste it. I was rushed to The LRI with an infection or reaction to the ILP. A further two weeks were spent there with it ending up very much like home with my cancer buddies that I met.

Six weeks later I got the news. Unfortunately my ILP hadn't worked, on the bright side my chest was still clear. I would be again heading to the hospital to remove the third tumour from my arm. This time though my arm would go with it. That's right, the only surgical option left to us was amputation.

Yet again I'd come home to recover just in time for Christmas. After the turkey and minced pies I would start systemic chemotherapy. January and the chemotherapy suite soon came, a baseline CT scan was taken and guess what? Yes my friend was back again, this time in my right lung.

As my dad always said " it's tough at the top" he also taught me to work hard and keep going no matter how tough so keep fighting was the order of the day! 

The following 5 months and 6 cycles of chemotherapy were tough, every 3rd week we would drive to the hospital to spend 4 days and 3 nights hooked up to a drip with a constant flow of chemotherapy and fluids being delivered into my blood stream through a port in my chest. All good intentions of using this time wisely, catching up on reading and learning a second language using an app on my iPad soon became days filled with sleeping and getting through the course as best possible. 

At the end of May following a CT scan a couple of days earlier Sarah and I found ourselves once again sitting outside my consultants office nervously awaiting an appointment for the results. After what seemed an age we were welcomed in, sat down and were given the news that the treatment had been worthwhile and that my little friend was now nowhere to be seen!!

Over the following17 months both my consultants have kept a very close eye on me with CT scans and check up's. The 3 month intervals slowly have became 6 as positive results continue and my body keeps my little friend at bay.

Joe x