Studio4 Architecture With Teenage Cancer Trust and Shine Cancer Support.

The Studio4 team will be involved in the Great North Run in September 2019 and sponsoring two extremely important organisations, Teenage Cancer Trust and Shine Cancer Support.

Team members: Alice, Chezy, Hannah, Caroline

In 2017/18 a Studio4 family member, Chezy, was diagnosed with an aggressive bone tumour called Ewing’s Sarcoma, but is now celebrating 9 months cancer free! Chezy and sister Hannah will be running for Shine Cancer Support:

“We are taking on this challenge in aid of Shine Cancer Support, a small national charity that have helped me immensely through my treatment and continue to support me as I rebuild my life. Run by volunteers and people who’ve experienced cancer themselves, Shine takes on the huge challenge of reaching 30,000 young adults diagnosed with cancer in the UK every year.

Shine has connected me to a network of people who understand the implications of cancer on a young adults’ life. This community influenced some fundamental medical decisions I had to make. Cancer doesn’t end when treatment finishes, living with uncertainty is possibly the hardest part of a life with cancer.”

Shine exists to support adults in their 20s, 30s and 40s who have experienced a cancer diagnosis. Shine Support began in Dorset, 2008 as a non-traditional support group for young adults: Emma and Justine were both diagnosed with cancer at a young age and had a hard time finding others that could relate to the issues they were facing. Once they started talking, they realised there was a huge lack of support for younger adults with cancer and the idea for Shine was born. Within the first year, they had connected with over 100 young adults living with cancer in Dorset confirming their thoughts about the lack of tailored support available.

In 2010 Emma met Ceinwen who was diagnosed with Stage IV non-Hodgkin lymphoma six weeks after her daughter was born prematurely, the two launched Shine in London and together made Shine a national organisation. They worked on the UK’s first research into the unmet needs of young adults diagnosed with cancer, also developed events and activities that would support the gaps identified in the research.

Shine became a registered charity in 2012 and has since supported thousands of young adults with cancer across the UK.

Family members Alice and Caroline will be raising awareness for Teenage Cancer Trust:

“We are running in celebration of my step sister, Chez beating cancer in 2018 at age 27. There are four of us taking part, including Chez and my other step sister Hannah, with my mum and me running in aid of Teenage Cancer Trust. Chez underwent inpatient chemotherapy at the teenage cancer trust ward in Cambridge.

This ward worked towards providing a home from home for young people with cancer. They need to raise 20 million pounds by 2020 to reach every young person with cancer.

Every donation truly helps!”

Teenage Cancer Trust is a cancer support charity in the UK which helps improve the cancer experience of young people aged 13–24. This charity was founded in 1990 with the intention of providing specialist teenage units in NHS hospitals.

The charity also trains and funds staff who are teenage cancer specialists. These areas are dedicated to teenager patients who actually help create the space itself, with suggestions of what they’d like to see and experience while there. Things such as computers, TVs and game consoles.

The charity also promotes related research and international forums while providing support services and education related to young adult cancer: Around seven young people aged between 13 and 24 are diagnosed with cancer every day in the UK. ‘They need expert treatment and support from the moment they hear the word ‘cancer.’ We’re a charity dedicated to making this happen.’