“Progress is being made for teens fighting cancer”
When I was diagnosed with leukaemia In 2009, I was 19 and right in a no-mans land for teenagers and young adults with cancer. I wasn’t a child, and certainly would have struggled to spend three years having my appointments in a children’s hospital.
Equally, I wasn’t an adult in the sense that 95% of the people I would see having treatment were over 40, and I can only remember two or three patients who were around my age during the entire three years of treatment.
So what is the problem of a mature 19 year old being treated on an adult ward? Firstly, the generation gaps between the current teenagers and the over 50 age group is massive, and this gap grows with every new bit of technology.
How many people over 50 will be WhatsApp’ing their friends, or Tweeting and Instagramming their daily lives? On the flip side, how many teens are sitting with their head in a book, or enjoying Radio 2 (The channel of choice in my hospital ward).
The teenage years are amongst the most difficult in your lives on a social level as it’s the age where most people develop and discover who they are. So why were young people being shifted to either the Childrens Hospital or the Adult ward that is predominantly the middle aged or elderly?
The answer in 2009 was that Teenagers needs had never really been considered, and Hospitals were only really starting with their understanding of the need for a dedicated young cancer ward.
Thankfully we have amazing charities like the Teenage Cancer Trust who are pushing for these specialist wards, and although I have finished my treatment, I was an ambassador at the launch day of a fundraiser for a new “Teenage Cancer Care Unit” back in 2013.
The £2.5 million pound Unit would be situated at the Bristol Haematology and Oncology Centre, and was being funded by the Teenage Cancer Trust. At this stage they had raised £1.5 million towards the building, and were looking for 1000 people to raise £1000.
Almost three years on and this building has been in operation for some time, and is a fantastic space for young people. I’ve been lucky enough to see the bedrooms, the social space with a pool table and jukebox and a kitchen area. It’s exactly what a teenager would need — a space away from the infants and elderly where they can do exactly what they want, be it playing on a games console, chilling with friends or just listening to some music in their own space.
The only issue is now, why are there only 28 of these Units? If you live in Newquay, Plymouth or Exeter then your nearest specialist TCT ward would be in Bristol or Southampton. The only Unit in Wales is in Cardiff.
If you’ve not got into RideLondon for 2016, maybe you could consider the Teenage Cancer Trust?
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