'Amazing' centre gives teen cancer patients a big boost

Published on Saturday 5 December 2009 09:41

RELAXATION lights, laptops, plasma TVs and all the games consoles under the sun are not the types of equipment you would expect to find in a hospital room.

But, thanks to the fundraising efforts of the Teenage Cancer Trust (TCT), that is exactly what youngsters battling cancer at Edinburgh's Sick Kids Hospital can expect from now on.

The first specialist facility for young cancer patients in the east of Scotland was officially opened yesterday by the woman who made it possible – volunteer fundraiser Lynne McNicoll, who has raised more than 600,000 for the charity in three years.

The unit at the Sick Kids – which has two beds, as well as a social area for young patients and their friends – is a precursor to the planned specialist unit for 16 to 24-year-olds at the Western General.

A four-bed unit for 13 to 16-year-olds will also form part of the new Royal Hospital for Sick Children, which is due to be completed in 2013.

The interim unit boasts all the modern technology you would expect to find in any teenager's bedroom – including a Nintendo Wii, a laptop and a selection of DVDs, as well as books, magazines and games.

In addition to the technology, the unit offers young people a much-needed space to be together, to talk about normal teenage things, away from the other children within the hospital.

It has already been hailed a success by young patients who have already used the facility.

TCT's Scottish ambassador Lynne McNicoll, who celebrated her 53rd birthday yesterday by officially opening the unit, said: "It's a bit of a bittersweet day.

"There's the satisfaction in a job well done but I'm sad that we need the unit at all.

"We can't lose sight of the fact that so many young people are having to fight this battle.

"I already know that it's made a difference to the young people who have been treated here."

Persia Honar, 13, is one of the first patients to have stayed in the new unit, having been diagnosed with Ewing's sarcoma – a cancer which most commonly develops in the bone – earlier this year.

Persia, who lives in Morningside, said:

"The rooms are a lot bigger and cleaner and the peace and quiet you get is nothing like when you're on the ward. I love the fact you can chill-out here and are able to sleep in in the mornings."

Kirsty Harrison, 19, had been used to going to the Sick Kids, after being diagnosed with a brain tumour when she was 11, and was terrified by the prospect of sharing a ward with adults.

Although she herself will not benefit from the unit at the Sick Kids, she knows only too well how much it will improve the lives of the teenagers receiving treatment.

The Penicuik teenager said: "Last year I took seriously ill but I couldn't be taken to the Sick Kids because there was lots of cases of sickness and diarrhoea and I cried for days because I was in an adult hospital. I was petrified.

"This new unit is amazing for them and they will get a lot out of it. This helps because you have got to be positive if you want to get through it."

Dr Hamish Wallace, consultant paediatric oncologist at the Sick Kids, added: "This is something we have dreamed of since the early 90s. Teenagers do get cancer unfortunately, and they are not well catered for either at the children's hospital, as being surrounded by young children is not ideal, and they find the adult siting pretty difficult as well.

"We have been looking to find appropriate facilities where they can have privacy, chill out on their own, watch TV, use the internet and have decent bathroom and shower facilities. The patients love it."