Employees at the London branch of German bank Berenberg have raised £85,000 for charity Sarcoma UK in memory of one of their colleagues who died from sarcoma cancer.
Lily-Rose Bury joined the UK office of Berenberg on their graduate programme in October 2021. But two months later, she died as a result of cancer that was diagnosed during her third year at university. A small lump had started to develop on the side of her foot.
This grew significantly over a few months, and Lily-Rose was subsequently diagnosed with rhabdomyosarcoma at the age of 20. When it was diagnosed, the disease had already spread to other parts of her body. Despite this, she finished her physics degree, achieved a first-class grade, and began working at Berenberg. The bank’s senior team described Lily-Rose as quietly determined and praised her for achieving a top degree and starting work despite her illness.
Four staff members – managing partner David Mortlock; head of the European investment bank, Laura Janssens; head of specialist sales, David Hogg, and head of UK sales, James Burt – ran 25km over 1,000m of elevation in the Lake District in May to raise money for Sarcoma UK. They have contributed £85,000 to the overall fund in Lily’s name, which now stands at £142,000.
Berenberg have long been involved with golf and some famous golf names donated to the fund such as Gary Player, Tom Watson, Fred Couples and Mark O’Meara.
Berenberg handed over the cheque for £85,000 to Sarcoma UK’s Philanthropy and Partnerships Manager, Sarah Thorn, and Regional Fundraising Officer, Lucy Waga.
Laura said: ‘We all still think of Lily-Rose and her courage. Given her diagnosis and the horrible illness she was fighting, to have achieved a first-class degree and started her career in banking was a remarkable achievement. It is hard to comprehend the magnitude of what she went through, but she would never let it define her.’
Receiving the cheque, Sarah Thorn said: ‘Lily-Rose Bury was a remarkable young woman whose courage and resilience in the face of sarcoma moved us all. This generous donation from Berenberg employees in her name will fuel breakthroughs in research and treatment, ensuring other young lives are not tragically cut short. On behalf of Sarcoma UK, I extend our deepest gratitude to the incredible Berenberg team for honouring Lily-Rose’s spirit in such a powerful way. The funds raised will help our investment in research to improve early detection and create new treatments for sarcoma. We have funded a project looking at rhabdomyosarcoma – the cancer that took Lily-Rose’s life. It looked at why rhabdomyosarcoma cells can resist treatment and will hopefully result in new treatments which target these resistant cells.’
You can donate to Lily-Rose’s fund at https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/lily-rose-bury-fund
