Throughout September, for Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, the UK’s leading children’s cancer charity, Young Lives vs Cancer (Formerly CLIC Sargent), will be helping children with cancer have their voices heard.
Having cancer when you’re a child is scary, lonely, relentless and painful. Over the past year children have missed out on so much. But for many children with cancer they are still swapping classrooms for chemotherapy, still waving at family members through windows and watching friends blow out birthday candles via phone screens.
This Childhood Cancer Awareness Month the aim is for everyone to see children with cancer for who they are and who they want to be. Because they are more than their cancer. It would be great to see the local community come together to help young people with cancer in Oxfordshire, and there are lots of ways to get involved.
You can volunteer to represent Young Lives vs Cancer at our bucket collections in local Morrisons stores. There are various dates throughout September, all available dates and times can be found on our website. In return, volunteers will get a warm fuzzy feeling and a huge sense of pride!
In the UK, children with cancer face an average 60-mile round trip to hospital to get life-saving treatment, with many travelling further. We would love people in the local community to sign up to our Challenge60. They could run 60 miles throughout the month (two miles a day), complete a 60-mile bike ride, or even hop, we don’t mind!
People can also support young people with cancer by purchasing their very own Young Lives vs Cancer gold ribbon pin badge, which are available at Morrisons stores, or you can order one online for a suggested £1 donation.
Last year, Young Lives vs Cancer helped 114 families across Oxfordshire to find the strength to face everything cancer throws at them. The charity gave out 40 financial grants to the value of £11,535 helping families to cope with the costs of cancer. The Cancer Costs report from the charity found that families with a child on active treatment spend an extra £600 a month.
The ongoing support from the local community mean Young Lives vs Cancer can be there for the children and young people of Oxfordshire with cancer, keeping families together by providing Home from Homes near hospitals and financial grants for support.
You can find more information about all of the ways to get involved this Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, make a donation or shop online at younglivesvscancer.org.uk #MoreThanMyCancer
How does Young Lives vs Cancer make a difference?
One such story is of Grace, who at the age of 21 got a shock diagnosis of Hodgkin’s Lymphoma after finding a lump on her neck in 2019. Now in remission and back to working full time, her family and friends supported her and raised money for the charity that gave her so much help in her toughest time.
For Grace, it was not something she ever thought would happen to her, and it only sunk in when visiting the chemotherapy ward for the first time. Told she had Lymphoma, it was only when chemo treatment was discussed did it hit home. But with Rachel, her charity appointed social worker by her side, it gave someone to explain the processes rather than paperwork. It was vital support and education to help Grace and her family through her long battle. And one that drove her and her family to raise money for the charities that supported her.
