Candlelighters

Because it is rare for children and adolescents to suffer from cancer or leukaemia, treatment is always carried out in specialist Regional Centres. There are 22 such centres in the UK, the one for Yorkshire is based at St. James's Hospital in Leeds.

The treatment of childhood cancer is both unpleasant and expensive and the Unit at St. James's is fortunate to have the support of Candlelighters. A very special charity set up by friends and families of children treated at the Unit and the doctors who look after them.

It is difficult to overstate the traumatic effect that childhood cancer has on a family. Every waking thought is a worry. Worry that a sniff means the beginning of a life-threatening infection. Worry that the next visit to the clinic will bring bad news. Worry that a tummy ache is secondary growth. Nothing that life throws at you will be as bad as watching your baby undergo treatment and the knowledge that you can only trust to the professionals and pray. Sadly nothing will remove this fear, it pervades the whole family.

Candlelighters do what they can to help by providing financial help in times of hardship, funding for support groups for parents, siblings and teenagers - never was the old adage of "a trouble shared is a trouble halved" more true than during the treatment of childhood cancer. The support our families give to each other is inestimable. Visitors to the unit are always surprised to find that, in spite of everything, the ward is a cheerful place. Their abiding memory is of the courage with which ordinary families face up to the challenges that the diagnosis of childhood cancer presents.

The charity has six holiday homes which can be used by families during the summer months, The treatment for Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia lasts for three years and, for many families, this will be the only opportunity they get to relax away from the endless routine of treatment, knowing that, if necessary, they can be back at St. James's in just over an hour.

Candlelighters also provide funding for equipment and additional members of medical and nursing staff. And last but no means least, funding for all important research into childhood cancer. When the charity started in 1971, very few of the children got better. now over 65% go on to lead normal healthy lives, but there is still much research to be done before we find a cure for all. Your support could make the difference between life and death for a child somewhere.

Lady Emma Ingilby
Patron of the Candlelighters

Registered Charity Number 1045077

http://www.candlelighters.org.uk/