A NEW unit for teenagers recovering from cancer is to be created at the Sick Kids Hospital after an Evening News-backed campaign hit its £150,000 target.
Two rooms with a bed each, soft furnishings, and entertainment equipment will offer youngsters aged 13 to 18 somewhere to go during their long rehabilitation from the life-threatening disease.
And no sooner has one campaign been successfully completed than another one begins.
Edinburgh-fundraiser Lynne McNicoll and the Teenage Cancer Trust have now set their sights on erecting two new cancer units in the Capital, at the Western General Hospital, and at the new Sick Kids when it opens in Little France in 2012.
They will both be new buildings – two rooms are to be converted to form the one at the current Sick Kids – and will cost about £2 million each.
It is hoped work will start on the first, at the Western General, by the end of 2009.
Mrs McNicoll, who has been nominated for the title of Britain's Most Inspiring Fundraiser, hopes to raise £500,000 towards the £2m target. For her, moving from one campaign to another is an emotional landmark.
She said: "I'm thrilled, absolutely overjoyed – and I am really excited about the next stage as well.
"This is largely thanks to so many people in Edinburgh who have helped out, and we are so very grateful for everything that they have done.
"This will make a real difference to the lives of so many young people, and their families, who are fighting cancer."
Her fundraising efforts have also provided real hair wigs for girls who have had to undergo chemotherapy, and have been worn by teenagers Nikki Wallace, 16, and 15-year-old Liza Freeland, among others.
Mrs McNicoll has been inspired by Zoe King, a teenager who helped raise thousands of pounds for charity despite battling cancer, and who died last year, a few days before her 18th birthday.
And the more young sufferers she has come across, the more determined Mrs McNicoll has become to help them. The unit at the Western General will be used by young adults up to the age of 24.
She said: "Zoe would just be overjoyed that we have got to this stage. It's a very fitting tribute to a remarkable young woman.
"I could not be more inspired than I have been by the young teenagers and their families. "They are the people who have made it easy for me to do the fundraising. I have only had to think about the times they've had fighting cancer, and their families, the pressure they go under, and I am inspired to do everything I can to help."
NHS Lothian and the Evening News have both backed the Teenage Cancer Trust's efforts to build the unit at the Sick Kids, which will be used by hospital residents and day patients.
The Evening News also successfully campaigned to ensure children's cancer services at the highest level were kept in Edinburgh and not centralised in another part of Scotland.
It means that young cancer sufferers living in the Capital can benefit from the best possible care and support on their doorstep.
Dr Angela Thomas, consultant paediatric haematologist at NHS Lothian, said: "We are delighted to hear this good news and grateful to the Teenage Cancer Trust for its unstinting backing both in creating this new interim facility for teenagers within our existing cancer unit and supporting us as we move forward in planning our new hospital, due to open in 2012.
"We hope this new facility will help remove some of the strangeness of being in hospital for teenagers.
"While we are skilled at successfully managing the treatment of young people of all ages, teenagers can sometimes find it difficult or uncomfortable being nursed alongside toddlers – and vice versa – so this development should be beneficial for all."
Teenagers aged 16 to 18 are given a choice as to whether they have their treatment at the Sick Kids or the Western General.
However, the TCT believes that they no more want to spend their days in the company of adults than in that of toddlers.
The site at the Western General will be built from scratch and the TCT hopes it will compare with the charity's flagship unit at the University College London Hospital.
Simon Davies, chief executive of TCT, said: "I'm delighted to announce that Edinburgh's first TCT unit is going ahead. But we're a long way from reaching our goal of ensuring that every teenager and young person in Scotland has access to a specialised treatment centre.
"We've had our eyes on the Western General for a while. It is going to be a substantial building, I don't know the exact size yet, but probably between six and ten beds, with plenty of social facilities such as IT equipment and a social area."
He added: "There's nothing more important to a young person than being around other people of the same age.
"It will certainly give them the confidence to do better in terms of managing their own illness.
"It is too early to say that it can improve survival rates but in paediatric cancer the same kind of facilities have led to a 15 per cent improvement – that's what we're gunning for.
"Professionals have advised us that in time they are confident we will see these kinds of results."
'They'll get a bit of privacy and self-esteem'FIFTEEN-year-old Liza Freeland was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma in March 2007.
After six months of treatment in the Sick Kids Hospital, Liza, from Dalmeny, knows only too well what it's like to be a teenager with cancer.
All the other children in her ward were babies, meaning she had no-one of her own age to talk to who knew what she was going through.
During her course of chemotherapy, Liza received help from top hairdresser Charlie Miller, who styles wigs made out of human hair for cancer patients.
Like most teenage girls with cancer, she dreaded the thought of having to wear a wig after chemotherapy, but the real hair alternative gave her a head of natural-looking locks, building up her confidence.
The creation of the specialist units that offer help to teenage cancer patients – such as the real hair wigs – is something Liza believes will really help to give young people a sense of normality.
Liza, who is her fourth year at Mary Erskine School, said: "It will be really good to have other people to talk to around the same age and not have to worry about waking the babies up.
"When I was in hospital you could watch TV but you had to wear earphones at night and there weren't many people to talk to unless your friends came in. This will be really good." Liza's mum, Alison Freeland, 52, also welcomed the news.
She said: "I knew they were hoping to get it and it's just super. It will give them their own space and a little bit of privacy and self-esteem.
"It will give them all the things they need to allow them to be teenagers together, away from the babies and toddlers to have their own space.
"Liza is not on treatment at the moment, she is just on clinic appointments, so while she won't benefit directly, I hope this will benefit the others and she will be pleased for them.
"It would have been a huge benefit to Liza."
HELPING HAND FROM GENEROUS READERSGENEROUS Evening News readers played their part in helping the Teenage Cancer Trust raise enough money to open the unit.
More than £13,000 flooded in to a Christmas appeal.
The trust was stunned by the support from our readers, which helped the charity on its way to today's announcement.
The Evening News launched the appeal on November 30, in the hope of making the dream of a specialist cancer unit for teenagers in Edinburgh a reality.
The appeal – which raised £13,278 – was inspired by Zoe King, 17, who lost her battle with cancer in September.
Her mother Sharon, 46, completed a marathon bike ride to raise money, and Zoe's parents also sold the teenager's beloved drum kit.
Other highlights included an Evening News online auction, which raised almost £1000, and a Christmas present-wrapping session at Ocean Terminal shopping centre.
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www.teenagecancertrust.org•
www.nhslothian.scot.nhs.ukThe full article contains 1416 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
