Charity gears up for its 25th annual ride in teen's memory

TWENTY five years on after the death from cancer of a Wallsend teenager, the charity set up by his friends and family has raised millions to support research into the rare form of the disease he had.

- By SAM VOLPE Health reporter

Chris Lucas was just 18 when he died in 2000. A quarter of a century on, the Chris Lucas Trust is still going strong and organises the hugely popular fundraising Great North Bike Ride each year.

The charity has now raised more than £2.5m which has gone towards funding researchers working on ways to support patients with the terminal diagnosis rhabdomyosarcoma - Chris had.

It is a form of cancer that affects around sixty children in the UK each year.