Children’s Cancer North’s mission is to make life better for children with cancer, and we do this in 3 main ways:

1. Supporting patients and families on Wards 4 and 14 of the Great North Children’s Hospital,

2. Funding revolutionary research here in Newcastle that benefits patients worldwide,

3. Raising awareness of childhood and adolescent cancer throughout the North East and Cumbria.

Supporting patients and families on Wards 4 and 14 of the Great North Children’s Hospital

Around 101 children and young people in our region are diagnosed with cancer each year. The charity supports families in the North East and Cumbria to make their cancer journey easier.

Children's Cancer North fund specialist therapists, materials and activities to give children a better quality of life during treatment, and organise various events to support patients and their families including:

• animation, music, and yoga and mindfulness therapies,

• a full time Play Specialist to support patients and families attending out-patient appointments with all arts and crafts materials needed to help pass the often-anxious time,

• family breaks at Center Parcs for patients to enjoy with their parents/carers and siblings,

• end of treatment gifts for patients,

• Teachers Training Day event to educate patients’ teachers in supporting them in their educational settings during their cancer treatment,

• Memory Day, a gathering for bereaved families to come together to remember their loved ones,

• iCanMove event to encourage patients and survivors to get involved in sports and recreational activities both during and after their treatment ends,

• social outings for teenagers, and Christmas parties for each age group of the young cancer patients.

Children’s Cancer North help parents and carers in their darkest days. Families from across the North East and Cumbria travel to the Great North Children’s Hospital in Newcastle for treatment, some travelling over 150 miles daily to maintain their child’s treatment plan. Each newly diagnosed patient’s family receives a Parent Pack containing useful resources and information such as what to pack in your child’s hospital bag, where to park, where to eat and how to find discounted hotels in the area.

The charity has also launched several funds to help alleviate some of the financial pressures felt by families faced with a childhood cancer diagnosis including:

• a family support fund of £250 for all newly diagnosed patients to help parents and carers with unforeseen costs of treatment in the initial few weeks of diagnosis,

• a travel and accommodation fund for patients having to travel away from Newcastle for specialist planned Proton Beam Therapy treatment within the UK,

• a bereavement fund for those families whose child sadly dies as a consequence of childhood or adolescent cancer.

Funding revolutionary research here in Newcastle that benefits patients worldwide

The charity funds revolutionary research which takes place at the Wolfson Childhood Cancer Research Centre within Newcastle University. The research and scientific teams working on understanding how different cancers behave and how different patients respond to various treatments enables a holistic bench to bedside approach to treating children and teenagers in a kinder and less aggressive way. Clinical trials are also funded and carried out at the Great North Children’s Hospital to test novel treatments for the most rare and difficult to treat cancers. The Great North Children’s Hospital has become one of the leading sites for new treatments in the UK and internationally, and are the first to bring new treatments which don’t have the side effects of chemotherapy when tackling cancer.

Raising awareness of childhood and adolescent cancer throughout the North East and Cumbria.

With approximately 101 children and young people diagnosed with cancer in the North East and Cumbria each year, Children’s Cancer North aims to raise awareness of the disease. Around 40 years ago on average only 20% of childhood and adolescent cancer patients survived their diagnosis and treatment. Through the funding and work invested into research and the improvements in treatments, these figures have completely flipped with 80% of patients now becoming childhood cancer survivors. The charity’s annual Children’s Cancer Run, which will be its 42nd staging of the event on Sunday 18th May 2025, has been integral in raising awareness of childhood cancer in the North East and Cumbria over the last four decades. As the charity’s flagship fundraising event it has raised over £8.5 million for the cause since its inception and the team at Children’s Cancer North are continually working on new ways to raise awareness of the cause, such as its ‘Paint The Toon Gold’ campaign.