In August 2020, in the middle of the pandemic our world collapsed when Emma aged 10 years old was diagnosed with Ewing sarcoma, a form of bone cancer.

The next 10 months was tougher for Emma than anything we could ever have imagined: 14 exhausting cycles of chemotherapy, 2 months of proton therapy in Manchester and radiotherapy in Leeds and finally a massive 12-hour operation to remove the tumour and a substantial part of her pelvis in Newcastle. 

Emma's determination and passion for life ensured that she was able to walk into school on the first day of year 7 with all her friends in September 2021. Over the next year she started riding and just had fun with her friends as all teenagers should.

The summer of 2022 Emma had an amazing trip to Scotland with Ellen McArthur Charity coming back with new confidence and zest for life.

We had several fantastic holidays to Scotland, enjoying time as a family again having been separated during much of Emma’s treatment due to Covid rules.

Devastatingly, just as life seemed to be returning to a new normal, Emma relapsed in September 2022, 18 months post treatment.

After initially being started on intravenous chemotherapy, she was commenced on oral Cabozantinib in February 2023. We don’t know what will happen in the future but currently it is working. Emma continues to excel at school, having fun with her friends and enjoying life.

 Ewing sarcoma most commonly affects children and young adults aged 10-25 years old and makes up about 1.5% of all childhood cancers. A child, teenager or adult is diagnosed with primary bone cancer every 10 minutes somewhere in the world, but primary bone cancer received just 0.027% of funding from the major UK cancer charities in 2020/21. Protocols are out of date and grueling. It’s a scandal that the lack of investment means that neither treatment nor survival rates have improved in over 30 years and that there’s so little chance of survival if it returns.