Southampton family raises £100k for cancer research

Southampton teenager Jessica Trant first noticed pain in her upper chest near her shoulder at the beginning of 2022.

Her GP told her it might be a pulled muscle but the pain persisted and Jessica was eventually sent to hospital for scans.

A tumour the size of a grapefruit was detected and Jessica was diagnosed with soft tissue Ewing sarcoma in May 2022. Ewing sarcoma is a rare and aggressive cancer affecting bones or soft tissue, most commonly in young people.

Jessica's brother and sister, Patrick and Claire Trant (Image: NQ) Jessica attended Peter Symonds College in Winchester and later St Anne’s College in Southampton. Her brother Patrick, 28, told the Echo: “We will never forget how kind Jess was – that’s what people really loved about her; she never had a bad word to say about anyone.

“Despite getting diagnosed with cancer at just 17, it was remarkable how strong she stayed and that rubbed off onto us as a family.”

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At first, the treatment seemed to be working but in January 2024, the pain returned and later that month Jessica was told her illness was terminal and she had just months to live.

She died in June 2024, leaving her family devastated.

“That six months in 2024 was the worst thing in the world” said her sister Claire Trant, 33.

Four family members have now raised over £100,000 for research into the rare sarcoma cancer that claimed their sister and cousin.

Patrick, Claire alongside and cousins Tim, 30, and Faye, 40, ran the Brighton Marathon for the charity Sarcoma UK.

Jessica’s brother Patrick added: “Jessica is remembered and missed every day, and we ran not only in her memory but to bring hope to future patients and their families.

“We hope that we have made Jess proud and her legacy will live on through the money we have been able to raise.”