'It means so much': Josie King's family remember Sunderland teenager as they mark two years since their loss

Josie King, from Thorney Close, died when she was just 15 after doctors had first thought she was clear of the Ewing Sarcoma bone cancer which had developed in one of her leg bones.

The Sandhill View student, who loved boxing and caring for animals, had helped other children through their treatment as she underwent her own programme of drugs and surgery at Newcastle’s Royal Victoria Infirmary.

As the second anniversary of her death arrived yesterday, Sunday, July 12, her sister Jessica King, 23, and mum Donna Doneathy, 44, took Josie Rae, 10-months, down to Roker Beach to release to J-shaped balloons to represent Josie and the niece she never got to meet.

Donna said: “All the family has done their own balloon releases as well.

”It means so much to us, because we don’t want her to be forgotten.”

Jessica added: “I want to do something so that Josie Rae is involved and it’s something we can do together to remember Josie, because she would have been the best auntie.”

Josie also leaves dad John King, 53, and brother Jack, 16.

The anniversary was also marked by Josie’s friends, who gathered at Penshaw Monument, one of Josie's other favourite places, as they held their own balloon release.

The family invited everyone to light their own candle in her name at 7pm.

Josie's family are in the process of choosing a memorial spot in a cemetery so that her family and friends have a place to leave flowers and spend time in a place dedicated to her, with her school already planting a rose bush in her memory, while Plains Farm Boxing Club has a bench set aside in her name.

Her loved ones are also busy planning to mark what would have been her 18th birthday, which would have been in December.

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