One night, as 12-year-old Beth Phelps was getting ready for bed and brushing her teeth, her parents noticed a lump sticking out on her shoulder, visible through her T-shirt.
Up until that point, Beth had been perfectly healthy.
A doctor’s visit soon revealed devastating news: Beth had a 7-centimeter lesion on her left lung, diagnosed as Ewing sarcoma — a rare and aggressive form of can.cer.
She immediately began treatment, undergoing surgery, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy. Eventually, she was declared can.cer-free.
However, in June 2022, Beth started feeling pain in her right shoulder. The pain worsened, and an X-ray showed the can.cer had returned, this time in her other lung. Sadly, the outlook was much bleaker.
Beth passed away on October 3, 2022.
Before she d!ed, doctors offered a place in a therapeutic study, but her parents chose palliative care instead to make her remaining time as comfortable as possible.
Beth’s father, Ben, described the family’s heartbreak:
“Our world was turned upside down in an instant. There were no warning signs. Beth was a healthy little girl.
But she handled her treatments with incredible courage, even though she was terrified of needles. When we learned the can.cer was back, we were sh0cked and devastated.”
Ben continued:
“We’d never even heard of Ewing sarcoma before. That’s why I’m doing everything I can to raise money for research into gentler treatments that might help save more lives.
Beth is my inspiration and guiding light every day. This cycling challenge is physically demanding, but it’s nothing compared to what she went through. We miss her every single day and are determined to make a difference in her name.”
Ben has now taken on a cycling challenge from Land’s End in Cornwall to John O’Groats in Caithness, Scotland, to raise funds for the Bone Can.cer Research Trust (BCRT).
