Teenage Cancer Trust

Teenage Cancer Trust doesn’t believe that teenagers should have to stop being teenagers, just because they have cancer. So they fund and build specialist units for young people in NHS hospitals. The units bring teenagers with cancer together with loads of new friends of their own age so they can support each other. Alongside all of this is a medical team of teenage cancer specialists who pool knowledge to create a body of expertise that’s second to none. They’re backed up by Nurse Consultants who provide clinical care, develop research, deliver professional education and ensure that standards remain as high as possible.

It is estimated that with the units currently around the UK, half of the teenagers diagnosed with cancer now have access to this dedicated, specialist support. The charity’s aim is to build enough units so that, by 2012, every single teenager will be treated on one.

As well as the units, Teenage Cancer Trust funds a number of different services to help young people fight cancer. These include;
• Research - The country’s first Professor of Teenage Cancer Medicine who leads research into why young people get cancer and how best to treat it, ultimately improving diagnosis, treatment and survival rates.
• Medical Courses – Courses for medical professional at all levels, so they can improve how they teat young people with cancer, including an online Diploma in Nursing for Young Adults based at Coventry University.
• International Conference - The world’s only conference focusing solely on cancer and the adolescent where experts from across the glove share information and research, helping to improve the lives of young people with cancer internationally.
• Find Your Sense of Tumour – This annual conference is specifically for young people with cancer and gives them the chance to share experiences and learn more about their disease. 400 young people from all over the country come together to discuss education, employment, insurance and fertility issues – as well as to have some fun!