Receiving the news that one of my closest and oldest friend's daughters (Connie) had been diagnosed with Osteosarcoma, an aggressive type of Bone Cancer, was devastating. My friend Hannah and her family were heart-broken and their lives had been torn apart. It was every parent's worst nightmare and something you never think someone close to you would have to go through.

Following diagnosis, Connie spent 9 months enduring gruelling chemotherapy treatment and operations to remove the tumour. She spent months learning to walk and, as her right leg is mostly metal, she will never be able to run again. She was just 12 years old.

That was in 2020, during the challenging year of COVID. Connie is now stable and whilst she still goes for bi-monthly scans, lives the most positive life. Connie, Hannah and their family are an inspiration.

One evening whilst altogether, Hannah, Lisa and I (pictured above) decided to do something positive and raise as much money and awareness as we could for the Bone Cancer Research Trust, which is the only charity dedicated to this disease, #TeamBones. We have been friends for almost 40 years and will be completing the London Marathon together. We have started training and already finding it tough. None of us have ever completed anything like it before and it will be the biggest physical challenge of our lives.

Every 10 minutes another child, teenager or adult is diagnosed with this type of cancer and they face a 5-year chance of survival at little over 50%. This drops even further if the disease is discovered late and has already progressed.

They fund ground-breaking research, life-saving awareness initiatives and provide dedicated and trustworthy information and support to patients and all their loved ones... All without any government funding. They rely 100% on people like you supporting their work through donations.

Their work has never been so crucial and vital. Figures from the National Cancer Research Institute (NCRI) have shown that research into primary bone cancer continues to be critically underfunded, with the main UK charities allocating just 0.02%.

Your support is massively appreciated. Thank you.

Lisa x