Charity of the Year:
Bone Cancer Research Trust
Our charity of the year is the Bone Cancer Research Trust, a very worthy cause which is extremely close to our hearts.
On 28th October 2020, choir committee members Denise and Jon received the devastating news that is every parent's worst nightmare. Their 10-year-old daughter Flora had been diagnosed with Ewing Sarcoma, a rare form of primary bone cancer. From being a perfectly happy, healthy energetic little girl, Flora's life, and theirs, changed overnight and they were suddenly thrown into a world of uncertainty and worry.
Over the course of 11 months, Flora endured a gruelling 14 rounds of chemotherapy, had major thoracic surgery, involving having ribs removed and a thoracic wall reconstruction at Royal Brompton Hospital plus a 5 weeks of radiotherapy. Due to the intense nature of her treatment she required 19 blood transfusions and countless hospital admissions, involving over 100 nights in various hospitals. Unfortunately her treatment took place entirely during Covid so there were long periods where she was separated from her adored 3 siblings and family. Despite all this Flora has been amazingly brave and as well as developing a very expensive taste in hats, she always had a big smile on her face throughout her treatment journey.
Sadly primary bone cancer is not prioritised by the major cancer charities and receives very little in the way of funding, meaning that the treatments and outcomes have not moved forwards over the past 30 years. 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. Last year alone, Bone Cancer Research Trust committed an incredible £807,824 to pioneering bone cancer research, and we are proud to be supporting them as they continue their lifesaving work.
For more information about the charity, please visit https://www.bcrt.org.uk, or you can click the button below to make a one-off donation.