Hi, I'm Johnny Hughes. I joined Beacon Hill last season after playing all my Youth Football at Heybridge Swifts. I made my 1st team debut for Beacon at 18, and a few months later I started University at Bristol. After only 6 weeks, I was diagnosed with OsteoSarcoma Cancer in my right arm.

Osteosarcoma is a rare cancer that is part of the Sarcoma Cancer family. It affects teenagers & young adults from around 12-25, mainly in the arms, legs and pelvis area. There is very little awareness of this type of Cancer as only around 600 cases are diagnosed in the UK each year.

I started treatment in December & had surgery in February to remove the tumour. I was lucky to be able to keep my arm but had to have most of the bone removed from my upper arm and shoulder, losing a lot of muscle.

Rehab has been hard alongside gruelling sessions of Chemotherapy. But thankfully now, chemo has finished and I am looking forward to rebuilding my life, eventually getting back to University and maybe one day back onto the football pitch.

I would love to help raise awareness of OsteoSarcoma, it is very important to know the symptoms, mine was as simple as waking up with a sore arm that progressed to pain when raising my arm. I saw local doctors and physios and the same at Uni before a diagnosis was confirmed on November 5th.

Please don't ignore any pains your kids may have no matter how trivial. Insist on a blood test to test for OsteoSarcoma. You never think these things will happen to you.

I'm looking forward to helping the club raise money for the OsteoSarcoma Charity & Youth section of the Club. Especially with our 1st fundraiser Jog for Johnny on Saturday, September 30th.

Alternatively, here’s my JustGiving page: https://www.justgiving.com/page/richard-hughes-jogforjohnny-beaconhillfc?utm_term=X6PE8ePQ7