“In the Summer of 2022 one of my little sisters, Ximena, was diagnosed with a rare cancer in both her kidneys.

Ximena went through lots of different surgeries and extensive chemotherapy to fight her cancer and throughout it all, she remained my amazing, positive, and extremely energetic little sister. I am so proud of her and how strong she is.

It is now almost a year since Ximena completed treatment – she is back at school, her hair is growing back, she has a lot of energy again and she is back to winding me up!

When Ximena was diagnosed with cancer, it was a scary time for the whole family. It was a lot for both Antonia (Ximena’s twin) and I to take on board as our mum and dad became even busier than usual and naturally Ximena’s health had to take priority. We all spent a lot of time in hospital and no family plans were ever guaranteed.

Straight after Ximena’s diagnosis, we were referred to Momentum for support – they became a sort of glue and source of positivity in our family. Momentum ensured that we still had stress-free time to simply have fun together. They organised for Santa to visit us when Ximena was too sick to go out, there were treats and games for the long days spent in hospital, and family respite time out on their riverboat and at Momentum’s beach cabins during the 12 months that Ximena was unable to travel. Having special family time together meant the world to us.

Our Family Support Worker from Momentum ensured that we never felt left out when our parents were busy and there was always someone available for Antonia and me to talk to. We are so grateful for all that they did during that time.

I wanted to do something to say thank you to Momentum and to mark Ximena completing her treatment and that is why I decided to take on the London 10k. I hope that by showing my support and raising valuable funds, the charity will be able to reach out to even more families like ours.

I really enjoyed training for the challenge – I keep quite fit through my rowing and fencing clubs at school, and more recently I’ve been running around Richmond with my mum and dad, building up the distance I am able to cover.”