* Primary bone cancer affects one person in a million with around 550 new cases in the UK each year, affecting mainly young people aged between 10 and 20. The fact that osteosarcoma occurs mainly in young people may be linked to changes in the bone as it is growing.
* Last month, it emerged that the survival rate of young people with osteosarcoma has not improved in more than 20 years. A study found that only 53 per cent of those with osteosarcoma were still alive five years after diagnosis - a figure that has not changed since 1981.
* Osteosarcoma usually occurs at the lower end of the thighbone (femur) or at the knee joint, but it can also appear in other long bones. It destroys bone and spreads rapidly, both into the surrounding tissues and then further away throughout the body. The cancer cells produce a bony substance called osteoid, which builds up into lumps on the bone.
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