In November 2017,  my gorgeous, sassy, loving, kind, beautiful daughter, Eleanor was diagnosed with Ewing’s Sarcoma, a rare form of bone cancer, with only 30 diagnoses a year.

As her treatment goes o,  it is becoming apparent that support, guidance and advice for young people of her age group is limited within the Devon area; too old for a child’s ward and support facilities and too young for adult wards and support facilities.  This is not surprising when only 1% of all cancer patients are from the 13 - 24 age group. 

The Teenage Cancer Trust already have centres in other parts of the country but the nearest facility to Devon, is Bristol.

It is also becoming more than evident, that one of the greatest supports to Eleanor is contact with her friends; so enabling her to stay in Exeter has been made possible due to a room being set up  by the Teenage Cancer Trust and money raised by another teenager, Nadia Hobbs. 

We would like to build on this by further developing a support network for young teenage cancer patients; this could include; talking to medical staff about how to empathise with teenage patients and raising awareness in GP practices to listen to young people when they have a concern about their health; enabling support and guidance with image and self-confidence; giving  emotional support and guidance not only to the patient but also their friends; facilitating schools and colleges to ensure that there is some continuity in educational provision during and after treatment and giving guidance on how they can support the young person and their friends on their return to school. The list  is endless. 

Overall, trying  to ensure that a teenagers life is as “normal” as possible in spite of the diagnosis. 

Our target is high but, by starting it now and setting up events throughout the year and with support from our wide circle of friends and family there is no reason why we cannot achieve this 

Please help us where you can.

Thank you