On Sunday 7 June, walkers will gather in Glasgow for Sarcoma UK’s Rare But Real walk, a community event for everyone affected by sarcoma, or who wants to show their support. For many who sign up, one name will be quietly present in their thoughts: Carey Lander.
Carey was the keyboardist and singer with beloved Glasgow indie band Camera Obscura. She was a musician who helped build a worldwide fanbase and whose warmth and talent made her irreplaceable to everyone who knew her. She was also someone who, in the face of a devastating diagnosis, used whatever energy she had left to try to make things better for others. When those walkers set off through Glasgow, her spirit will walk with them.
In February 2011, after experiencing leg pain, Carey was diagnosed with osteosarcoma, a rare bone cancer. She underwent chemotherapy and an eight-hour operation on her leg that June, then spent the following year in treatment. Characteristically, she kept playing. Camera Obscura released their album Desire Lines in 2013, with Carey still very much part of the band.
When the cancer returned in 2015, spreading to her lungs, Carey set up a JustGiving page. Her words on it were quietly heartbreaking in their selflessness: ‘It’s probably too late to help me, but it would be great if we could find something in the future that means children don’t have to undergo such awful treatment and have a better chance of survival.’ She was still performing gigs in July that year. She died in October, aged 33.
The page raised more than £174,000 for Sarcoma UK. Tributes came from Lauren Laverne, Dermot O’Leary, Zooey Deschanel, Josie Long and the group Franz Ferdinand. In 2024, Camera Obscura’s first album since her death included a track called Sugar Almond, dedicated to her.
Her parents, Eileen and Robert, both 79 and amateur musicians themselves, moved from Kent to Bathgate in 2017 – drawn to Scotland to feel closer to their daughter, to, as Eileen puts it, ‘breathe the air she breathed and walk the streets she walked’. They visit the memorial bench her bandmates organised in Kelvingrove Park, where Carey’s schoolfriends have also gathered to eat curry, her favourite meal, in her memory.
Ten years on, Eileen reflects: ‘Part of your heart stays numb.’ But she speaks too of what has kept her going – five grandchildren, flashes of Carey in their faces and personalities, the sound of her music still filling the house. She and Robert continue to support Sarcoma UK, most recently being involved in a concert that raised £462.
Carey’s fundraising legacy is one that Sarcoma UK has built on ever since. Sarcoma UK’s Research Manager Emily Williams explains why that work matters so much: ‘Carey’s own words said it all – she wanted better options for the children who would come after her. That is exactly what Sarcoma UK’s research programme is working to deliver. Sarcoma UK has invested over £1.2 million into osteosarcoma research across some of the country’s leading universities. Our researchers are tackling the disease from every angle – from developing precision immunotherapies that target tumours while sparing healthy tissue, to understanding why some cancer cells survive chemotherapy and return, to working towards a blood test that could one day catch osteosarcoma far earlier than is currently possible. Carey spent months experiencing pain before her diagnosis. She deserved better options than those available to her. Every step taken at Rare But Real on Sunday takes us closer to making sure future patients have them.’
Rare But Real comes to Glasgow on Sunday, with routes of 3, 5 and 10km open to all. It is a walk for the sarcoma community, for those who have lived with the disease, lost someone to it, or want to stand alongside those who have. Carey won’t be forgotten as those walkers make their way through the city she loved so much. She believed in bringing people together and raising funds so that, one day, others might have better options than she did. Taking part is a chance to honour that belief, and to keep her memory alive in the most fitting way possible, in the streets of the city she made her home.
To sign up, visit: https://sarcoma.org.uk/get-involved/rare-but-real/rare-but-real-glasgow/
