We are delighted to announce that Lisa Larkin, the founder of Friends of Rosie, has been awarded an MBE for charitable services in His Majesty, The King’s Birthday Honours List for 2023.

A Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) is awarded for an outstanding achievement or service to the community by an individual.

Lisa has worked tirelessly over the past 32 years to raise funds and awareness for children’s cancer research since losing her four-year-old daughter, Rosie, to the disease in 1991.

Lisa decision to use her daughter’s death as a force for transforming the life chances of children with cancer everywhere, has made a major, some might say unique, contribution into vital research to unlock potential treatments and cures for children with cancer.

Along with family and friends in the Northwest of England, Lisa started the charity, Friends of Rosie, to fund pioneering research into the causes, diagnosis, and treatment of childhood cancer.

Says Lisa, “I feel so honoured to be given this award which enables me to thank all those people who contributed their time, skills, and support over many years. This honour is for them as well as me. Despite advances in the treatment of childhood cancer since our daughter died, there are still many childhood cancers with a poor outlook and today’s treatments continue to be harsh, unpleasant, and uncertain.

“I would just like to see a situation where no more parents have to sit in front of a doctor and be told, “We can’t cure your child”. Dedicated research into childhood cancer is the only thing that will change the outlook for children.”

Adult cancer treatments are seldom suitable and often leave children who survive cancer with devastating and lasting side effects. Many childhood cancers are still incurable and yet children’s cancer research attracts only a tiny fraction of the money invested in the adult disease.

Since the charity’s outset, Friends of Rosie has raised over £2.75 million and kickstarted 28 research projects covering all types of childhood cancer. Research projects initiated by Friends of Rosie have gone on to attract millions of pounds more, be funded by the likes of Cancer Research UK and the Department for Health, leading to major international research partnerships between the UK, Canada, and the US.

Friends of Rosie continues to kickstart vital children’s cancer research and has recently also begun to fund international workshops, bringing clinicians and scientists together for the benefit of children with cancer. It’s most recent workshop on Precision Medicine in Childhood Cancer, which attracted sponsorship from four of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies, has already led to many international collaborations.