Sarcoma Awareness Month: Life Goes On
Sarcoma may change you, but it does not have to define you.Ā
Each month, Christine Lote creates a digital memory box filled with emails, photographs, and family moments for her two young daughters.
It is a deliberate choice to capture memories for the years ahead, driven by an incurable cancer diagnosis and the heartbreaking statistical reality that she may not see them grow up. Rather than retreating, the Bristol-based solicitor is channelling her energy firmly into the present. For Sarcoma Awareness Month, she is sharing her story to highlight chondrosarcoma, a rare bone cancer that is poorly understood and easily missed.
Christine’s path began in 2019 when she mistook persistent heel pain for a standard running injury, leading to a two-year misdiagnosis of peroneal tendonitis. A routine ultrasound during her maternity leave in September 2021 finally detected a mass, which was confirmed as chondrosarcoma in January 2022. Though initial surgery removed the tumour, the cancer returned in 2023 during her second pregnancy. Faced with a recurrence, Christine made the life-altering decision to undergo a below-the-knee amputation of her right leg to give herself the best opportunity to see her children grow up.
“I remember hearing my consultant say: ‘My job is to save your life, not your leg,’” Christine recalls. “Amputation was the best opportunity to see my children grow up; I had no choice other than to proceed.”
Tomorrow isnāt promised to anyone so you have to live for the here and now and stay present, focus on what you can control not what you canāt and surround yourself with people that lift you up.
Christine Lote
Following her amputation in June 2023, Christine dedicated herself to physical rehabilitation, learning to walk, cycle, and eventually run again on a prosthetic limb. She completed a 56-mile charity cycle ride in September 2025, raising over Ā£10,000, and completed her first 10K running event in June 2026.
Even when routine scans in April 2024 revealed the cancer had spread to her lungs, making her condition incurable, Christine refused to be defined by her diagnosis. Today, she notes that navigating un-accessible pavements and escalators presents a greater immediate daily challenge than her active cancer. She focuses firmly on what she can control, living intentionally for the here and now.
Christine documents her daily life and experiences on Instagram at @half_price_pedicure_vs_cancer.
Turning personal stories into clinical breakthroughs
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A return to the podiumSupporting you and our community
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About Sarcoma UK
We are the national charity for anyone affected by sarcoma cancer. We fund cutting edge research, campaign for better treatments, and work to enable earlier diagnosis so that everyone in our community can live longer and betterĀ lives.
About Sarcoma UK
We are the national charity for anyone affected by sarcoma cancer. We fund cutting edge research, campaign for better treatments, and work to enable earlier diagnosis so that everyone in our community can live longer and betterĀ lives.
