Charity gears up for 25th bike ride in memory of teenager

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.

- SAM VOLPE

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 60 children in the UK each year. Now, the charity funds two researchers at the Institute for Cancer Research in Surrey - and just this month Chris's parents, who are both called Lynn, visited Prof Janet Shipley there to see how cutting edge research there is progressing.