The group will take on the Tube Challenge on Friday, aiming to visit every station on the network in a single day. They believe that if more than eight members of the group complete the challenge, they will set a record for the largest group to do so.
The team plans to begin at 5:22am at Amersham, with the fastest participants hoping to finish by midnight at Heathrow Terminal 5. Others expect to finish at about 1am, after more than 18 hours on the move.
The challenge will take serious logic and endurance, over the course of the day, they expect to cover about 300 miles across London, with participants running or walking up to 15 miles. At least 10km of the journey will be above ground.
But for the family and friends taking part, the challenge is intended to be more than a test of endurance, it is a way to celebrate Ruby’s life, bring people together in her memory and raise money for research that could help other young people diagnosed with cancer.
Ruby was a happy, healthy 17-year-old in the middle of her A-levels when she suddenly became unwell in June 2019, starting with a sore shoulder and tiredness. Initially misdiagnosed over roughly six weeks, there were eight doctor appointments before diagnosis; early explanations included allergies, school stress and even carrying a heavy bag.
Her worsening symptoms eventually led to the discovery of a large tumour caused by a rare and aggressive blood cancer, T-cell acute lymphoblastic lymphoma.
Ruby endured 10 months of gruelling treatment, including intensive chemotherapy, radiotherapy and a stem cell transplant. The side effects were brutal: she lost a significant amount of weight, developed peripheral neuropathy that left her unable to walk more than a few steps, experienced steroid-induced psychosis and paralysis, and was placed in an induced coma. Throughout her treatment, she also battled sepsis twice and a fungal lung infection, alongside other serious infections and a collapsed lung, requiring multiple transfers to intensive care.
The NHS left no stone unturned in trying to save her, but ultimately her cancer proved to be unresponsive to all known treatments, and she died, at the height of the COVID-19 lockdown, of T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, T-ALL.
T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (T-ALL) affects around 200 people per year in the UK, with the vast majority being children and young adults.
Treatment includes steroids and chemotherapy, sometimes followed by a stem cell transplantation. These treatments are so toxic that some patients can’t tolerate them and can result in serious long-term side effects.
They also don’t work for one in five children and around 50% of adult patients – and the cancer can come back after initially successful treatment. When this happens, treatment options are extremely limited.
Ruby’s Mum, Emma, has been talking to Jackie’s Chloe Norman about her daughter and what this challenge would have meant to her.
You can listen here:
