Charities
Registered charity nos. 1107328 and SC039857
Young Lives vs Cancer, formally known as CLIC Sargent, has been helping children and young people since 1968 with vital emotional, physical and financial support.
Today, 12 children and young people will hear the devastating news that they have cancer.
At a time when they should be busy being children, enjoying their rollercoaster teenage years or finding their feet at university, life becomes full of fear. Fear of treatment, but also of families being torn apart, of overwhelming money worries, mental health stretched to breaking point, of having nowhere to turn, no one to talk to.
From the moment the doctor says ‘it’s cancer’, Young Lives vs Cancer step in. Young Lives vs Cancer is the UK’s leading children’s cancer charity supporting over 7,000 young cancer patients and their families each year. The charity provides the emotional, financial and practical support they so desperately need during their darkest days.
Baker Ross’ support has helped to provide:
- Almost 1000 nights of accommodation in Paul’s House, London, one of the charity’s Home from Home which provides a free place for families to stay, close to the hospital, when their child is going through cancer treatment.
- Over 3000 hours of emotional support to children and young people from the point of diagnosis, helping them understand their diagnosis, supporting them in processing their emotions, talking to them about any worries or concerns and reassuring them that they are not alone.
- Over 100 hours of specialist bereavement support for siblings and parents who have to deal with a child’s death.
Case Study - Harry’s Story
Harry was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia in May 2021, aged 3. His mum Kimberley tells his story.
“It had all happened so quickly; it was hard to process it. Harry wasn’t old enough to understand what was happening, he was completely naïve and unaware which in a way was a good thing. Covid made things so difficult and I found myself sitting alone in a hospital I was unfamiliar with, with nobody to comfort or reassure me.
We met our Young Lives vs Cancer social worker, Lisa, on the second day and Tamsin, another social worker, showed us around the Home from Home. The support that we received really was so important and it helped us to know we had someone there.
I felt so low and awful, there were things that I wanted to talk about but didn’t want to burden my family with because I knew that they were going through the same and I didn’t want them to be worrying about me on top of everything else. When you are feeling scared and you have these worries, you want to be open and honest about it. With Lisa I could be. It was lovely to know there was somebody that I could speak to.
We stayed at one of Young Lives vs Cancer’s Home from Homes which was invaluable to us. The hospital is an hour and a half from our house so it meant we could both be near Harry and swap over every day.
It gave us home comforts and really did feel like a home, but it was the fact that we could both be near the hospital and both be there. I do not know what we would have done without that.”
Harry is currently in maintenance and will continue treatment until July 2024.