In September I am flying out to Tanzania to join a group (none of whom I’ve previously met) to attempt to summit Mt. Kilimanjaro; Africa’s highest point at 5895m, the worlds highest free standing mountain. The highest mountain I’ve ever climbed is Snowdon so it’s going to be a massive physical challenge for myself. My biggest fear being the temperature extremes and the altitude sickness which it is impossible to prepare for.

However these challenges pale into insignificance when I think of the daily challenges Bone cancer patients and their families face.

Initially when I first signed up for this madness it was just a personal bucket list adventure that I wanted to do for myself. However I now want to make it more meaningful and try and do it to help my dear friend Lucy reach her fundraising goal for BCRT. She will be running in the London Marathon next year and I hope anything I can raise now will help boost her total.

I have learnt from personal experience that cancer can strike any of us at any time and sadly nobody is immune. One moment your life is going along smoothly and then overnight it can change forever with a cancer diagnosis. Every day it seems another friend, family member or work colleague is affected and it touches us all in some way. It is so important that we keep fundraising to support charities like Bone Cancer research to enable them to carry on their vital work.

Sadly Immy is not alone in her story with many sarcoma patients receiving an mis- or late diagnosis, meaning survival rates are much lower than other Children, Teen and Young People cancers. As sarcoma and its many subtypes is so rare, less funding is invested for research which means a lack of progression for treatments.

The Bone Cancer Research Trust is dedicated to saving lives & improving outcomes for people affected by primary bone cancer. Despite being small, they fund more research projects exploring primary bone cancer than any other organisation. Other large UK cancer research charities do not prioritise bone cancer patients, in 2019 just 0.028% of their research spend went to bone cancer – not even close to 1%!

Last year alone, Bone Cancer Research Trust committed an incredible £807,824 to pioneering bone cancer research - to save lives!

I would be extremely grateful for any donation you are able to contribute to help improve outcomes for young people like Immy. Thank you 🙏

p.s. My trip is fully funded by myself so any money donated goes directly to the charity.