Simon’s Story

2020 may have been the year where Covid came into our lives, where isolation, shielding, staying at home became common practice for many of us. But for children, young people and their families facing a cancer diagnosis and treatment, Covid made life a lot more difficult. At CLIC Sargent we already know that cancer has an additional significant financial impact on a family of around £600pm, but Covid has also brought job losses, young people and parents being furloughed, family businesses closing, A level and GCSE exams being rescheduled then predicted…. it led to a lot more uncertainty, worry and anxiety on top of cancer.

Our social work team in Northern Ireland continued to work during the pandemic albeit in creative ways using technology as face to face support wasn’t permitted or too risky for our families and staff. But our services never stopped because cancer didn’t stop, in fact we put on additional services where possible, recruited a new social worker for Antrim Area Hospital and continued to fight tirelessly for our families.

At the end of 2020 we started to get our services back to face to face, staff returning to wards, bringing our face to face group work programme back for young people and setting ambitious goals for 2021 and onwards to continue to support children, young poeple and their families not just with cancer, but the impact of covid 19 on top of their cancer.

Inspired by Simon’s work? Ready to spring into action and take on your challenge? Look at some of our hand-picked suggestions and find your place on #TeamYoungLives!