About thechallenge

A group of us (currently a team of 14) are running the Surrey Half Marathon on 13th March to show support for an inspirational woman and to raise awareness of an important charity who help sarcoma patients and their families.

The confirmed team so far includes:

Kathryn Palmer, Mike Firth, Dave Read, Jonathan Smith, Jake Steward, Luke Steward, Kristin Mazurkewicz, Amy Drummond, Vanessa Woodfine, Phil Brown, Jen Sturgess, Chris Tuck, Simon Norton  and James Read.

If you are around on the day please feel free to come down and cheer us all on!

About the Charity

Sarcoma UK are small charity with a big job to do. Sarcoma patients often face late diagnosis, limited treatment options, fear of what the future brings, and isolation that comes with a diagnosis of a rare cancer that few people have heard of.  Sarcoma UK have provide valuable informational support through their website and leaflets and as well as emotional support through their online forum.

Due to its apparent ‘rarity’ advances in finding cures or effective treatment have been slower than other, more common, types of cancer. It is therefore important to us (our family and friends)  that we raise money, not only to help bring about advances in treatment now, but to also help people in the future who find themselves facing a Sarcoma diagnosis.

As well as providing many useful resources, Sarcoma UK arealso dedicated to funding Sarcoma specific research. They have been funding high quality research since 2010 through their scientific and medical grants toincrease knowledge and provide evidence to provide improvements to patients across all areas of sarcoma. This sort of research has helped the specialist teams like the London Sarcoma Service to become one of the leading specialist centres for Sarcoma Treatment, not only in the UK but also throughout Europe.

What are sarcomas?

Sarcomas are a type cancers that develop in the muscle,bone, nerves, cartilage, tendons, blood vessels and the fatty and fibrous tissues. They can affect almost any part of the body, on the inside or the outside and commonly affect the arms, legs and trunk.

There are 3 main types of Sarcoma; soft tissue sarcoma, bone sarcoma and gastrointestinal stromal tumours (GIST), and around 100 different sub-types.

Ten people every day are diagnosed with Sarcoma in the UK,and sarcoma’s account for 15% of all childhood cancers and 11% of cancers inyoung people (15-24 years).

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Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totallysecure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on orsend unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to thecharity. So it’s the most efficient way to donate – saving time and cutting costs for the charity.