Lulu Blundell: Family vow to continue teenager's cancer fundraising

Lulu Blundell died on New Year's Day having raised £80,000 over the years

The family of a 19-year-old woman who died from a rare cancer has vowed to hit a fundraising target to help young people diagnosed with the disease.

Lulu Blundell was 15 when she found out she had Ewing sarcoma, which led to her lower leg being amputated.

She raised £80,000 for the Teenage Cancer Trust and now her family want the fund to top £100,000 in her memory.

Mother Carolyn said: "We're desperately keen there is some good comes from the pain and anguish we've experienced."

A few months before her death on 1 January, rugby player Lulu, from Rotherham, took part in a fundraising 5km run after being told that her cancer had returned.

Her mum Carolyn said the overriding memory of her daughter was her smile

Mrs Blundell said despite running with a prosthetic limb and tumours in her spine, shoulder, chest and ribs, her daughter was determined to complete it.

She said: "Everything she did, she did fiercely, whether it be laugh, be cross, whether it was love people or commit to something. She was fierce."

Mrs Blundell said her daughter, who used to play for Sheffield RUFC and Wakefield Trinity and worked at Newcastle Falcons, had raised "a massive amount of money".

Lulu was a sports enthusiast and a keen rugby player

She said as well as raising awareness of Ewing sarcoma, the family wanted people to have a greater understanding of the work of an "amazing charity".

"Young people need particular things when facing a cancer diagnosis and, without the Teenage Cancer Trust, they can't have those."

She said as well as giving "massive emotional support", the charity also gave Lulu the ability to go to social areas rather than staying in a hospital bed, along with specialist nurses and a team who supported her through managing her own care.

Mrs Blundell said: "If she wanted to go to Amsterdam with her boyfriend, which she did, with all her medication, they wrote her letters and got it all organised so she could do that.

"None of those things should ever be underestimated, they are massive."

The Teenage Cancer Trust said Lulu had created a "living legacy" through her fundraising

Heather Bowen, from the Teenage Cancer Trust, said Lulu was "phenomenal".

"No matter what she was going through, she wanted to give back to young people.

"She's given us a living legacy of continuing to fundraise and I'm incredibly proud of her for that."