AFTER losing their son to bone cancer, Andy and Angela Lewis wanted to honour him in a way that would help others stay healthy.

The couple, from Brightwellcum- Sotwell, were left mourning their 22-year-old son Alex after he died from osteosarcoma in February 2011.

Mr and Mrs Lewis have co-organised a charity concert at Dorchester Abbey for Saturday that they hope will encourage people to find out more about the disease.

After the success of a first ‘Arias at the Abbey’ concert in 2012, which raised more than £7,000 for the Bone Cancer Research Trust, they have high hopes for a reprise this weekend.

Our top stories

Mr Lewis, a trustee for the charity, said: “The last one was an amazing evening.

“The audience reaction was just tremendous.

“It’s really important to us not just to raise money but also to make people aware of bone cancer.

“Early diagnosis is important so it’s important to get the word out there.”

Signs of the disease include swelling, redness and bone pain or fractures.

Although only 600 people are diagnosed with the disease every year, just half survive and the rate has not improved for 30 years.

Oxford Mail:

Alex Lewis died of bone cancer.

Alex, a former pupil at Wallingford School and St Birinus School, in Didcot, was diagnosed at 17 while studying for his A-Levels. He first knew something was wrong when he noticed a pain in his upper left arm while playing tennis.

He battled the disease for four years and had radiotherapy, chemotherapy and a prosthesis put into his left humerus, but the cancer continued to spread.

Alex remained positive throughout and married Alison Strain, a TV production company worker, at local church St Agatha’s on his 22nd birthday.

He died five days later.

Mr Lewis said: “He had an amazing attitude. His attitude was ‘I’m going to get on with my life’. He was such a lovely lad. You couldn’t get down because it would be betraying him.”

He hoped the same optimism would define the concert on Saturday.

For the show, the Wallingford Parish Church Choir and Oxford Chamber Orchestra will team up with four opera singers for a night of musical classics, including Puccini’s Tosca, Bizet’s Carmen and Les Miserables.

Award-winning opera singer Stuart Pendred, who co-organised the event, will be joined by Australian soprano Kylie Watt, mezzo-soprano Hannah Pedley and new tenor Anthony Gregory.

Mr Pendred, 45, who lives off Botley Road, appeared in Les Miserables between 1995 and1997 and later became the official voice of Chelsea Football Club.

He lost close friend Andy Greig, who had four children, to bone cancer in November 2010. The pair met through the Salvation Army in Bedford.

Mr Pendred said of his friend Mr Grieg: “We had a shared love of music. He was a great trombone player, a great guy and a real family man. It seems terribly cruel that a man who gave only good things to society was hit by such a horrible disease. It cost him his life and his quality of life too.”

He added that Dorchester Abbey was a “really beautiful and evocative”

place, with accoustics suited to a concert.

Dorchester Abbey Reverend Canon Sue Booys said: “It is a rare thing to have a standing ovation at the Abbey like the one which greeted the last notes of Nessun Dorma in 2012. I am looking forward to Arias 2.”

The concert begins at 7.30pm.

Tickets cost £15 for under-18s and students and £25 for adults. For more information and to book call 01491 825680.