England players join Andrew Strauss for Ruth Strauss Foundation Family Mile
Monday 27 May 2019 09:10, UK
England's cricketers took a break from their World Cup preparations to take part in the Ruth Strauss Foundation Family Mile on Sunday.
Part of the wider Vitality Westminster Mile, the event is the first of its type organised to raise funds for the foundation.
Former England captain Andrew Strauss launched the foundation in March in memory of his wife Ruth, who died in December 2018 from a rare form of lung cancer at the age of 46.
"Today is huge for us, having launched The Ruth Strauss Foundation this week," Andrew Strauss said. "This is our first event so we've got 500 friends, family, colleagues, people from the cricket world all coming together to show solidarity and support for Ruth and to remember her.
"The foundation has got two very clear aims, which are to fight the lung cancers we don't know about and to support the suffering we don't see. So that's rare forms of lung cancer which tend to be contracted by younger people, more women than men, and people who have never smoked.
"The suffering you don't see is not just the patients themselves but the families that go through the cancer journey with them and unfortunately for so many people it ends the wrong way, so bereavement support - both pre-bereavement and afterwards - for families and children is so important and was incredibly important for Ruth.
"That's why we're doing this, we're trying to create a really worthwhile legacy for a wonderful woman."
