Charity expands support for children with cancer

Amelie Hardiman was just 14 when she was diagnosed with stage three melanoma, an aggressive form of skin cancer which is rare in children.

She had to have most of her treatment in Merseyside, over the border from her north Wales home, at services geared towards adults which left her feeling isolated and without people her own age to whom she could relate.

Now 17, Amelie, from Llanfairfechan in Conwy, said finding the childhood cancer charity Joshua Tree gave her and her mum the emotional support they were looking for.

"My friends didn't know how to handle what was going on in my life, lots of people didn’t, but having that support person there was really important," she said.

She said her support worker Sara visited her every week.

"I got to see and message her whenever I felt like it.

"We would go out and do activities and talk about everything going on in my life, not just cancer but anything I was feeling," she added.

Amelie said it was important for her mum Catherine too because there was no network of people going through the same thing they were.

"She met other parents of children who were all going through similar experiences."

Amelie and her family are one of about 200 families in north Wales who have been supported by Joshua Tree over the past five years.

The charity is now expanding its service in the region, opening a new centre in Colwyn Bay where there are facilities for play, therapies and counselling.

Chief executive Richard Driffield said he knows there are more families out there with a cancer diagnosis in the past few years who need help.

"The support we offer is quite unique, it's away from the hospital setting and very much in the community and local area," he said.

"A lot of families travel more than 120 miles from north Wales to the principal treatment centre at Alder Hey [Hospital in Liverpool]… so having support on their doorstep is crucial and vital."

Joshua Tree supports the families of young people aged up to 24, and tailors its approach depending on what they or family need.

Danielle Percival, head of family support, called the bespoke approach important.

"For somebody with a [young] child, the safety of play is important," she said.

"For Amelie it was recognition of her still being a typical teenager and somebody to listen to the conversations about life and friendship groups and school, and all of those teenage hardships that happen within life and the cancer diagnosis comes in on top of normal life."

She said the charity had also worked hard to put peer support together so all family members can find some respite.

"It's a community that speaks the same language, that understands life has got ugly and hard but the support they give each other is really beautiful."

She said many families have said it was isolating and lonely, not just for the poorly child but for the parents and often siblings who were "really lost" too.

"They can feel jealous or isolated and don’t understand what’s happening to their routine of family life."

Now studying for her A-levels and looking ahead to university, Amelie is now cancer free, but she still has to regularly travel for appointments, check-ups and scans.

She said she still relied on the support she gets from Joshua Tree.

"I can call Sara, and chat to her. She’s always there for me."