Why we are here
Improving the lives of young people with cancer.
Teenage Cancer Trust grew out of the dedication and passion of a group of women who discovered the plight of teenagers with cancer by chance.
Whilst fundraising for a children's intensive care heart unit at Guy's Hospital, London, they met a mother whose son developed cancer at 13. He was treated at times in a childrens ward or alongside old people - making the experience far worse for him. The women met the young man’s consultant who explained that not only did young people have to face the trauma of cancer, its treatment, and isolation from their peers at a very sensitive stage of life, but that they also tended to get rare cancers.
The women went on to raise funds to build the very first Teenage Cancer Trust unit at the Middlesex Hospital in London in 1990.
Young people and cancer
There’s never a good time to get cancer, but for a teenager the timing seems particularly cruel.
Young people can get some of the most rare and aggressive forms of cancer. Their rapidly growing bodies work against them, enabling the cancer to grow faster. The emotional upheaval of adolescence can make a cancer diagnosis even harder to cope with.
Every day in the UK, six young people will have to face that diagnosis. This is a rising figure and there are already more young people than children with the disease. Yet because only 0.5% of all cancers occur in teenagers and young adults, they are often misdiagnosed initially. This decreases their chances of survival and can mean they are excluded from clinical trials.
Until the age of 16 a teenager is likely to be treated in a paediatric ward alongside children. After turning 16, the same teenager would end up in an adult ward with elderly patients. One minute life’s about music, clothes, computer games, college and hanging out with mates. The next minute life is on hold and they’re in a hospital ward with no-one their age and feeling very isolated.
It is important for young people’s physical health and psychological well-being that they be treated in a specialist facility that is built to meet their needs. It is also critical for their emotional well-being that they are treated in a comfortable environment where they have the opportunity to meet young people their age who they can relate to.
Find Your Sense Of Tumour
Our yearly conference for young people who have or have had cancer. A chance for them to meet other people in a similar situation to them, talk, socialise, and have some fun.
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Find your sense of tumour
Our conference for young people with cancer and it takes place every year.
The chance for young people to get together, meet, and share their experiences with other people their own age.
