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Catherine Buchanan died aged 17 on 21 September 2013.   She was the daughter of very dear friends. Until she was taken ill Catherine had been a healthy and active teenager who loved riding, and had just filled in her university application to study science.   When she became unwell there was no reason to think it was anything other than a bug of some sort. After a few days her parents, Julie & Richard took her to an out of hours GP who suspected something more serious.   That day, Catherine went from the GP, to the Ulster Hospital, and then on to Belfast City Hospital, where she was diagnosed with Acute Promyelocytic Leukaemia (APL).  She was moved almost immediately to the Intensive Care Unit.  After a short but awful time for both her and her family, and despite the best efforts of some fantastic medical staff, she died with her parents beside her just a week after being admitted to hospital.

I want to use my entry for Ride London 2015 to raise funds for Leukaemia & Lymphoma NI (LALNI). It is the only charity in Northern Ireland dedicated to fighting blood cancer. The funds they raise go directly to supporting research at the Centre for Cancer Research & Cell Biology at City Hospital, Queen's University, Belfast.

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