One minute your life can be carrying on as normal. The next, families hear the devastating news that their child has cancer.
Those first days, weeks and months are overwhelming, filled with so many fears, of treatment, families being torn apart and having nowhere to turn, no one to talk to. Things that used to be simple are suddenly complicated, confusing and exhausting. And as if a cancer diagnosis isn’t tough enough, the financial worries can be relentless, with parents spending an average of £730 more every month. Costs of travelling and staying away from home for treatment, parking at hospitals, and extra heating costs to keep their sick child warm after chemotherapy all add up.
A child or young person’s cancer diagnosis can leave them, their family and their finances shattered and running on empty.
We just can’t leave them to face this alone.
"I don’t know how we would have done anything without our Young Lives vs Cancer Social Worker."
Samuel’s story
A 5pm appointment after nursery became a rush to the local hospital for Mum, Amy, and Dad, Matt, and by 2am they were told their son, Samuel, had leukaemia.
“I wanted to ask ‘is he going to die?’ but I didn’t want to say the words.” Once they received the diagnosis, it was all go. Samuel was transferred by ambulance to the John Radcliffe hospital in Oxford, 40 miles away, to start his gruelling chemotherapy treatment.
A place to call home
Only one parent could stay on the ward overnight with Samuel. His family were given a room at CLIC Court, a Young Lives vs Cancer Home from Home close to the hospital and a free place for families to stay while their child is on treatment. “For us, it was literally a place to crash and it meant that instead of leaving at 6pm and driving back to Swindon, we had that extra time together and were leaving at 8 or 9pm and going straight to bed over the road.”
Someone there to care
The family were also supported by Grace, their Young Lives vs Cancer Social Worker, to help with the day-to-day impact that a child’s cancer diagnosis brings. “I don’t know how we would have done anything without her…She’s helped us to talk to our employers and to talk to the nursery. She will be involved in any conversations with any organisations that we want or need, and her wealth of knowledge and experience was invaluable. She’s been there for us every step of the way. She is amazing.”
You can help today
Young Lives vs Cancer is the charity that helps children and young people (under 25) and their families find the strength to face whatever cancer throws at them. But we can’t do it without you.