A CONSULTANT at the Sick Kids Hospital has backed calls for a specialist unit to be built for teenage cancer patients.
Angela Thomas sees first-hand how difficult it is for teenagers separated from their peers who have to share wards with much younger children or adults.
The Evening News is backing a fundraising campaign by the Teenage Cancer Trust to create a spe
cial cancer unit for teenagers at the Sick Kids, complete with televisions, computers and DVD players, as well as areas for patients to pursue hobbies or studying.
Dr Thomas, who modelled in a fashion show held in aid of the TCT as a tribute to teenage cancer victim Zoe King, said: "We need their environment to be as good as possible. Giving them access to the web, so they can communicate with their friends, is a hugely important thing.
"We need to create a safe environment where they can be a teenager, so if they are really fed up, and don't care anymore, and everything is just so awful, they have access to something, so they can talk to their friends.
"If you want someone to do something which is difficult, painful or boring, if you can incorporate other things that make life worth living that will help.
"What we need is a place where children can go and have their meetings without all having to squeeze together."
Teenage cancer patients can spend weeks or months having treatment at the Sick Kids.
They are encouraged to stay mentally strong and optimistic but the experience can be stilting and boring.
As well as the other patients, they find themselves unable to escape their parents who understandably spend large amounts of time visiting. They also risk falling behind with schoolwork – even though the city council sends a teacher to the hospital to help them – because they do not have a room where they can study.
Dr Thomas said: "Teenagers like to complain about their parents, but the ones here often have parents at their bedside all the time.
"They need to be able to talk away from their relatives and they can't do that unless they are able to get away from the general ward."
She added: "Teaching is a very important part of normal life. Some of the children here will rush off to school and rush back, but some don't go at all.
"In Scotland it is not statutory to provide teaching, in England it is. The Royal Free in London has a big school with a head teacher."
Lynne McNicoll, fundraiser for the Teenage Cancer Trust, said: "Teenagers complain that they cannot study because it is not quiet and there are not the computer facilities. They want to study and be able to get on with their exams. Dr Thomas' words add a lot of weight. She is there working with these young people every day. She has seen at first-hand the difference this would make.
The full article contains 498 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
