A TRIO of friends are set to take part in a charity bike ride to raise funds for a seriously-ill little girl.

Three-year-old Sadie Rose Clifford, from Knaresborough, suffers from a form of aggressive cancer called neuroblastoma, and has been undergoing treatment in New York and the UK to try and combat the disease.

This weekend, Kyle Brown and Joel Johnson, from Acomb, York, along with Liam Lamb, from Market Weighton, will cycle from Scarborough to York, to raise money for the Sadie Rose Clifford Appeal, and have already received pledges totalling about £500.

York College joinery student Kyle, 19, said: “My girlfriend Katie knows Sadie’s aunt, and joined the Facebook group, which is how I heard about her.

“I have a son, Finley who has just turned one, and I thought I wouldn’t want to be in that position, so I went through a few ideas how we could raise some money to help.”

Kyle asked his friends to join him on the trip, which will see them cycle along the A64 on bikes donated for the challenge by Wheelies in Pocklington, and followed by a support van from Y3 Van Hire. They hope to raise about £800 towards Sadie’s treatment.

In January, Sadie was taken to America to undergo aggressive treatment which is costing in the region of £500,000.

However, doctors found new tumours in her liver and chest, and in the last two weeks, Sadie has undergone more intensive chemotherapy and a platelet transfusion, while doctors have also harvested stem cells to be used in treatment.

Sadie’s parents Katie and Darren Clifford, have been keeping a blog of their ordeal, describing their journey from Sadie’s diagnosis to undergoing a stem cell harvest last week.

“They wrote that the collection of stem cells lasted about three hours each day.

“Sadie had to lie really still. Which she did so well.

“We had to give her an injection into her leg each morning.

These came with some nasty side effects and caused her to have bone pain which is caused by the drug stimulating her bone marrow to produce more stem cells, prior to the harvest. Thank God that is over”

For more information, or to donate money and fundraise to help cover the additional cost of the chemotherapy, visit sadierosecliffordappeal.co.uk