Sarcoma UK – The bone and soft tissue cancer charity

As many readers of this blog will know, Georgie had cancer three times. It was his third cancer that eventually took him from us. At the age of fifteen he was diagnosed with Osteosarcoma of the Mandible (jaw). I had never heard of Sarcoma before Georgie was diagnosed and now it has taken one of my favourite people.

Sarcoma’s are rare cancers that develop in the supporting tissues of the body, for example muscle, bone and nerves. They are some of the most common childhood cancers. About 55% of sarcoma’s affect the limbs and about 15% affect the head and neck, the remainder will be found in the abdominal area inside your body.

There are three main categories of Sarcoma: Soft tissue cancer, Primary bone cancer and Gastro-Intestinal Stromal tumours. There are also about seventy different sub types of sarcoma which fall into these three main categories. Osteosarcoma falls under the primary bone cancer category.

Sarcoma UK is the main UK charity dealing specifically with all types of sarcomas. In March 2011, The Sarcoma Trust and Sarcoma UK officially joined together to become known collectively as Sarcoma UK.

Sarcoma UK has one main aim: to get the best possible level of treatment and care for patients suffering from sarcoma. They achieve this through three different means:

·         They fund scientific and medical research into discovering what causes sarcomas and how to treat them

·         They deliver various types of support and information services which cover all aspects of sarcoma

·         They raise awareness of sarcoma with members of the public, healthcare professionals and policy makers.

The fact that sarcoma affects a lot of children is horrifying, especially when it could mean having limbs amputated. Georgie had to have his jaw replaced; such a horrific and painful experience for anyone, let alone a sixteen year old boy. However not many people are aware of this type of cancer, I wasn’t until it affected someone close to me.

Sarcoma UK has a small team of hard working staff who work alongside doctors, nurses, researchers and other cancer charities. It has a board of trustees, many of whom have had personal experience with sarcoma. It is a fantastic charity working hard to bring awareness to such a terrible form of cancer. It is so important to bring awareness to such a worthy cause and to get this charity as much publicity as possible. It provides much needed support and information to sarcoma patients and their families as well as much needed research into ways of preventing and curing the disease.

Sarcoma UK relies on voluntary donations as its sole means of funding their hugely important research projects into sarcoma. If you know of a way of fundraising for a charity then I really do urge you to bear Sarcoma UK in mind. Every little really does help in the battle against sarcoma cancers.

If you are interested in fundraising for Sarcoma UK or have any questions about sarcoma cancers, please do get in touch with the charity.

Visit their website www.sarcoma.org.uk

Like their facebook page http://www.facebook.com/#!/uk.sarcoma

Follow them on Twitter https://twitter.com/#!/Sarcoma_UK

xxx