Children and teens treated for cancer in Leeds join inspirational adventure trips
Children and teens treated for cancer in Leeds have joined inspirational adventure trips with the Ellen MacArthur Cancer Trust - including water sports and high ropes on the Whitemoor Lakes.
Young people, who have been treated for cancer at Leeds General Infirmary and St James’s Hospital, enjoyed two days of activities - as the Trust aims to transform more young lives this summer.
The group - aged between 8 and 22 - were joined by a Trust crew of volunteers, a skipper and the site's instructors who taught them how to get involved with canoeing, yachting and climbing on August 4 and 5.
The Ellen MacArthur Cancer Trust inspires young people aged 8-24 to "believe in a brighter future living through and beyond cancer".
The hospitals’ adventure days were part of the Trust’s ‘Taste of the Trust’ programme in response to the ongoing pandemic for 2021.
Instead of the usual four-day sailing trips the young people would typically be invited on, these regional one-day events take the Trust to the young people and are organised to be as COVID secure as possible.
The Trust said the hope is the young people enjoyed their day so much they will be inspired to return to the Trust for the full experience next year.
James Penn was 15 when he was diagnosed with fibrolamellar hepatocellular carcinoma, a type of liver cancer.
Now 17, he admitted it was ‘fantastic’ to be part of a group again.
He said: “It felt so good today and I’ve felt really happy, being part of a team.
"With your friends, you feel out of place sometimes because they don’t know what you’ve been through.
"I feel like you can just say weird stuff here and people just get it, it’s normal. That’s the best bit.”
Luke Fawcett, 16, was diagnosed with leukaemia two years ago.
He echoed James’s words, saying: “Being part of a group is good, especially because of how supportive they are.
"You can talk to them about anything and they just understand you.
"Lockdown was rubbish and boring, but looking forward to this trip did make it feel better.”
The Trust said: "Through the Trust’s sailing and outdoor activities, young people build confidence by making friends with others who have had similar experiences often for the first time, rediscover independence away from home and outside of their ‘cancer bubble’ and begin to realise what they are capable of again.
"Most importantly they stop feeling like the ‘only one’."