Childhood Cancer Awareness Month

December is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. CLIC Sargent will be highlighting the care and support needs of families who may want to continue treatment at home.

Because of their illness, children and young people with cancer spend many weeks, months and sometimes years away from school. Time away from their friends and family can often mean missing out on the normal growing up time that most children and teenagers experience.

CLIC Sargent is committed to helping them spend more time at home safely. Where ever we can, we provide nursing and social work care and support when a child is in hospital but also when they are at home. This ensures that a child’s care can continue at home and the family remain supported through the most devastating experience they will ever go through.

However, there are gaps in the provision of these vital community-based services and sadly, because CLIC Sargent relies solely on voluntary donations, they cannot reach all the families that they need to.

Find out more about CLIC Sargent's commitment to supporting families at home by reading about how the System is failing children with cancer.

Watch our film about Keller and his family, who have been helped and supported CLIC Sargent Nurse, Claire.

CLIC Sargent Media appeals

A way of getting involved in Childhood Cancer Awareness Month is to support one of our media appeals:

The CLIC Sargent Helping Hands Appeal in association with the Daily Record and Bank of Scotland

The Helping Hands appeal encourages Daily Record reader’s to see life through the eyes of the families who have children or young people diagnosed with cancer. The appeal will focus on a number of families who have benefitted from the range of community services on offer and will ask reader’s to do what they can to support CLIC Sargent this Christmas.

Donate to this appeal:

Donations can be made at any Bank of Scotland branch, using the following account details:

Account name: HBOS Foundation Xmas Appeal Scotland
Account number: 06971956
Sort code: 80 20 00

Donations can also be made by going in to Bank of Scotland branches and paying over the counter or via telephone or online banking services quoting the details above.

The Bank of Scotland and the HBOS Foundation will match individual donations of up to £500. (Subject to an overall maximum of £125,000 for the whole appeal).

For more information about this appeal, please visit the Daily Record website to read about:

• The Copland family 
• CLIC Sargent supporter, Duncan Pow
• The Bradley family's Christmas without cancer treatment
• Duncan Bannatyne's inspiration for supporting CLIC Sargent

The Norwich Evening News Christmas Appeal for CLIC Sargent

Norwich Evening News readers are being asked to dig deep this Christmas to support children with cancer. The appeal aims to highlight the breadth of services CLIC Sargent provides and how they have touched the lives of families in Norfolk.

Two-year-old Kallum Lynch and his family from Great Yarmouth helped kick off the appeal and talked about how crucial CLIC Sargent’s support is to them as Kallum battles cancer.

Kallum’s mum Jo said: “If it wasn’t for them then we wouldn’t have known where to turn. If I have a problem I know I’ve got someone on the end of the phone who will be able to listen and help. It means I can concentrate on Kallum rather than worrying about filling in forms and money.”
 
Other young people who have shared their story include six-year-old Hollie Smith who, with her family, enjoyed a holiday at Malcolm Sargent House in Prestwick and financial support, and 14-year-old Murray Grant who also took a break at Malcolm Sargent House but also had help from a CLIC Sargent Play Specialist and Child and Family Support Worker as he went through treatment for Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

Read the latest article from the Norwich Evening News about the appeal with information about donating to the appeal.