I am running the London Marathon to fundraise for Angel Child on behalf of The Brain Tumour Charity to help fund pioneering research into paediatric brain tumour treatments. My very dear friends Lucinda and Ed Bartlam lost their son Alfie to an Ependymoma when he was just 7. He endured 3 surgeries at Great Ormond Street Hospital like some sort of legend, as well as proton beam therapy in the US. He was a truly excellent patient and really did take it all in his small but mighty stride, enveloped in love by his family. The Angel Child fund was set up by Lucinda and Ed to honour Alfie.

So now I find myself running the marathon, something I have always said I thought I could do. These ageing knees and hips are being put through their paces, but sometimes, just sometimes, I am finding joy in pounding the streets of West London. I have seen all too often the devastating effects of loss to cancer and to be able to try to make some headway into kinder, safer, targeted treatment means a great deal to me and my family.

Angel Child has chosen its first research project, Curing the Underserved, and is committed to raising £1.44m in funding by 2025. Headed by Professor Richard Gilbertson- a paediatric oncology clinician, researcher, and director of the Cambridge Cancer Centre at Cambridge University the aim of the project is to find more effective treatment for two paediatric brain tumours, a type of ependymoma called Supratentorial C11orf95-RELA (which is a variation of what Alfie had) and Choroid plexus carcinoma. Whilst Curing the Underserved relates to two paediatric brain tumours, what makes this project especially exciting is the impact the findings could have on many other, often hard-to-treat cancers, including pancreatic cancers, as Professor Gilbertson and his lab use AI and 21st century science to really move things forward.

The stats on brain tumours remain stark: they are the biggest cancer killer of children and young people in the world. And yet research remains woefully underfunded – just 3% of the money spent each year on cancer research in the UK goes to brain tumour research. As a result, treatments and prognoses haven’t changed for 40 years. (The stats aren’t much better for adults: just 12% survive for five years after diagnosis and brain tumours reduce life expectancy by an average of 27 years – the highest of any cancer.)

Thank you all so much for your support, it means the world.

Cam (and her old knees)