Family to walk from Thorne to Cleethorpes for teenage girl with rare cancer

  • Report by Emma Wilkinson

The family of a teenage girl with a rare type of cancer are preparing to undertake a 46-mile fundraising walk to raise awareness of the disease.

Lucey Lyne, from Thorne near Doncaster, was 16 when she began experiencing back pain and unexpected weight loss. She was diagnosed with stage three Hodgkin lymphoma in December 2022 and went on to have 24 weeks of chemotherapy and four weeks of radiotherapy.

But in October 2023 she relapsed, and this month will have a stem cell transplant which will require a four-week stay in hospital.

"I've always tried to stay really positive, I started sharing my journey on Tiktok and it reached thousands of people," Miss Lyne said.

"But you can't dress it up, it has genuinely been the worst thing I've ever had to go through in my entire life."

Lucey's family have praised the way she has dealt with her gruelling treatment. Credit: Family photo

After 14 months of regular hospital visits and gruelling treatments, her family wants to raise money to give her a much-deserved treat at the end of the stem cell treatment.

Her mother, Petrina, hopes her daughter can soon enjoy a weekend break. An online fundraiser has been launched to help.

"She's made decisions that no 16 or 17-year-old should ever have to make in their life, and she's just taken it in her stride," she said. "She's just amazing.

"She's missed out on so much, she's had to sacrifice a lot of things so she just deserves to go and enjoy herself."

Half of the money raised on the walk - which starts at the family's home in Thorne and finishes in Cleethorpes - will be donated to Doncaster charity Firefly, which is run by volunteers and provides free transport for local cancer patients and their families to Sheffield Treatment Centres.

Local charity Firefly helps cancer patients get to their appointments.

"I've been overwhelmed by all the people who have helped me," said Ms Lyne.

"Especially the Firefly charity, because from here to Sheffield, there and back, it is 70 miles, so when I had to go there every day for a month, that would have been too much for my mum.

"My mum has been amazing, she's been with me at every single appointment," she said.

"[My family] are the absolute best ever."

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