Thanks for taking the time to visit our JustGiving page.

This July, two of us are each going to run 100 kilometres to raise money for Cancer Research UK. That’s a total of 200K between us. Our little sister, Rosie (9 years old) is doing her bit with a 30km cycle with our dad. It would mean a lot to her if you made a donation of any size to her page if you are able:

https://www.justgiving.com/page/rosie-john?utm_medium=FA&utm_source=CL

We’re doing it in memory of our mum, Tessa John, who died from cancer in June 2016, when we were very young. She was just 37 years old.

Mum was diagnosed with multiple cancers in December 2015 and died just seven months later, on 29 June 2016. She left behind our dad, the three of us- now aged 16, 14 and 12 - and our little sister, who was just a baby at the time and is now nearly 10. She also left a huge gap in the lives of her parents, her three sisters, and all of her wider family and friends.

Mum devoted her working life to the care of sick children. She started at Great Ormond Street Hospital, then moved into paediatric research with the Oxford Vaccine Group, and later worked at the Clinical Research Network Thames Valley and South Midlands. She had a Master's degree in Medical Ethics and Law, and was planning to start a PhD in advocacy for children in medical settings — until she chose to have her family instead.

After she died, an award was created in her name to honour Outstanding Contribution to Children’s Research. For a long time after she had died, people in her workplace facing difficult decisions would ask: “What would Tessa do?”

We miss her more than words can say.

This challenge is our way of honouring her memory and raising money for cancer research so that in the future, other families might be spared the pain of losing someone they love.

We’ll be running throughout July — whatever the weather — and would be so grateful if you would consider supporting us. Every pound helps, and all donations go directly to Cancer Research UK.

Thank you for reading our story and for helping us make a difference.

— Tristan and Isaac