Teenage Cancer Trust £1million appeal for new unit launched

07/02/09

Teenage Cancer Trust, is calling on the Suffolk community to put its weight behind an appeal to build a new state-of-the-art teenage cancer unit in the region.

Teenage Cancer Trust’s planned unit at Addenbrooke’s Hospital will care for young people with cancer from across East Anglia. The unit will cost £2million and will be the first of its kind in the area.

At an exclusive event held on Saturday, influential members of the community will pledge their support to Teenage Cancer Trust’s Suffolk Appeal, which aims to help raise £1million towards the £2million overall target.

The committee, led by Nella Probert, has already raised over £50,000 for Teenage Cancer Trust. Guests will enjoy solo performances by members of the Aldeburgh Youth Orchestra as well as a talk by Director of Fundraising at Teenage Cancer Trust, Richard Shaw, former patient Lucy Smith, and Dr Helen Hatcher from Addenbrooke’s.

As part of the campaign, the committee will be launching an initiative to bring local schools on board, appealing directly to teenagers in Suffolk to set up their own fundraising events.

Six teenagers are diagnosed with cancer every day, that’s over 2,000 each year. There’s never a good time to get cancer, but for a teenager the timing seems particularly cruel. Young people get some of the rarest and most aggressive forms of cancer, and the emotional upheaval of adolescence can make a cancer diagnosis even harder to deal with.

Nella Probert, Chair of Teenage Cancer Trust’s Suffolk committee said: “We need to raise £1 million to build this specialist facility for the young people in the region. Teenage Cancer Trust really needs everyone’s help to reach this figure. All donations are hugely appreciated, however large or small! If every person in East Anglia gave just £1 we would easily meet our target. Teenage Cancer Trust units aren’t like ordinary wards – everything about them has been designed to give teenagers the very best chance of a positive outcome and improve survival rates. We want every young person in Suffolk and East Anglia as a whole, to have that chance.”

Nella decided to get involved with Teenage Cancer Trust after hearing about the charity’s work through her sister-in-law, Mercedes Bevan, a nurse on the cancer ward at Addenbrooke’s. Mercedes is also raising money for the charity in Cambridgeshire. She has fundraised in the past for her son’s school which gave her the confidence to take on this challenging project.

A number of events are planned over the coming months to help raise money for Teenage Cancer Trust’s appeal. Tickets are now on sale for a cabaret fundraising evening on Friday 8 May at Stoke-by-Nayland golf club. Tickets cost £65 each and include dinner, entertainment and an auction.

Design of Teenage Cancer Trust’s unit at Addenbrooke’s is underway, incorporating lots of innovative ideas about space and décor provided by teenage cancer patients themselves. Building work is scheduled to start in December 2009.

Teenage Cancer Trust’s Addenbrooke’s unit will cost around £2million to complete, with half of this money needing to be raised locally in East Anglia. It will be open for cancer patients aged between 13 and 24, from East Anglia and surrounding areas.

The unit will provide 10 in-patient beds plus out-patient and day care facilities, open-plan social and recreation areas, a kitchen and dining area for patients and parents, digital lighting systems, broadband connectivity and cutting edge computing, gaming and entertainment equipment.

How your money will make a difference:

*Ten fully fitted patient bedrooms, all complete with music system, interactive lighting and network connections to home and school – cost £100,000 each *A music therapy room, complete with mixing equipment, synthesizer and other musical instruments – total cost £50,000 *£10,000 will fit out the parent’s lounge and dining area *£500 puts a pool table in the social area *£300 buys a wardrobe and bedside unit *£1,000 buys and installs a music centre or flat screen TV

Donations can be sent to Teenage Cancer Trust Suffolk Appeal, PO Box 1105, Cambridge, CB22 3WZ.

Saturday’s event is being sponsored by Waitrose in Sudbury, with flowers provided by Hebe Flowers.