Teenage Cancer Trust
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Teenage Cancer Trust is a charity that focuses on the needs of teenagers and young adults with cancer, leukaemia, Hodgkin’s and related diseases by providing specialist teenage units in NHS hospitals. The units are dedicated areas for teenage patients, who are involved in their concept and creation. Medical facilities on the units are second-to-none and they are colourful and vibrant environments, equipped with computers, TVs, game consoles – places where friends and family feel comfortable to visit.
To date, TCT has built 8 units in London (2 sites), Leeds, Liverpool, Birmingham, Sheffield, Newcastle and Manchester. We are also in discussion with an additional 15 trusts (see map). It is anticipated that the concentration of medical expertise within these units can improve chances of recovery by 15%. Units are costing over £1 million each to build and TCT must complete at least 20 units in the UK so that every teenager and young adult with cancer in the UK has access to these facilities.
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History of TCT ==
Since TCT was established, the charity’s work has expanded dramatically. As well as an Education and Awareness team with a vibrant schools programme providing information, education and advice that reaches pupils all over the UK, we fund and organise a multidisciplinary forum for professionals to ensure information and best practice sharing. We sponsor a teenage conference, Find Your Sense of Tumour, an International Conference on Cancer and the Adolescent and have just appointed the world’s first Professor of Adolescent Cancer Medicine. grew by chance, out of the eagerness of a group of women to organise a fashion show to fund a children's intensive care heart unit at Guy's Hospital, London.
The show was a resounding success and the women, high on the adrenalin of triumph, were ready to take on the world. Little did they know - they had!
A mother of four sons approached the group to ask them to consider the plight of teenagers with cancer. Unfortunately, she had discovered the issues for herself, when one of her sons developed cancer at 13. He was treated at times in a children’s ward or alongside old people - both experiences that made the harrowing time far worse for him. His consultant was invited to address the group of women and pointed out to them 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 also they tended to get rare cancers.
Each day in the UK, 6 teenagers will find out they have cancer. That is over 2,200 new diagnoses each year. More often than not, these young people get a raw deal, receiving hospital treatment in inappropriate facilities alongside children or older people. In many cases, cancer in teens is not picked up early enough and symptoms are dismissed as growing pains or sports injuries. Because teenagers are undergoing growth spurts, their cancers grow faster than other age groups and they can be at greater risk.
Cancer is more common than you think – it is the most common cause of non-accidental death in teens and young adults in the UK. By the age of 15 you have a 1 in 600 chance of developing cancer. By the age of 24 you will have had a 1 in 285 chance of developing cancer. In the last 30 years the incidence of cancer in the teenage and young adult group has increased by 50% and for the first time ever, the number of teens with cancer now exceeds the number of children with cancer.
Ambassadors
Frank Lampard File:Https://www.teenagecancertrust.org/images/main/about/frank lampard.jpg Before moving to the dizzy heights at the top of the Premier League with Chelsea Football Club, Frank Lampard spent six years with West Ham United where he broke through as a regular Premiership player as well as England U21 captain.
He is now one of England’s highest profile players and is a current member of the England team. Frank holds the record for consecutive appearances in Premiership matches, reaching 130 at the beginning of 2005. He was voted Chelsea Player of the Year 2004 and one of the nominee’s for FIFA’s World Player of the Year. He was also one of 4 England players named in the official Euro 2004 All-Star squad by the UEFA technical study group. Frank has also just won the poll for England Player of the Year 2004 as voted for by supporters on the FA web site.
A very well respected and admired player, Frank is described as “as close to indispensable as you’ll find in modern squad-based football.”
Frank’s relationship with the charity began in late 2004 after a visit to a Teenage Cancer Trust Unit. TCT patients are central to Frank’s involvement and he has already made a real difference to some of them. He has made a pledge to continue his work and we are in no doubt he can make a difference to TCT patients across the country."
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Its headquarters are in Yeadon, West Yorkshire.