Trumpets please! Last week we gave Teenage Cancer Trust a whopping £14, 479.15 which was raised at last year’s festival. This was achieved through sales of programmes, merchandise, car parking and some very generous donations – you know who you are!

This money will help to ensure that young people in the South West don’t have to face cancer alone!

Five years ago, half of the teenage and young adult cancer patients diagnosed in the South West each year faced cancer without specialist age-appropriate nursing care. To reach the other half, the charity has completed the roll out of its innovative Nursing and Support programme across the region, in partnership with the NHS, which places Teenage Cancer Trust nurses in local hospitals.

Teenage Cancer Trust Nurses are professionally trained to know how to communicate with young people with cancer, working in partnership with the local cancer teams. They involve them in decisions about their care instead of just being informed about them, cutting through medical jargon, and treating them as a young person first, cancer patient second. They also recognise the importance of peer support, and bring young people together to support each other.

The initiative has supported Teenage Cancer Trust nurses to work in local hospitals across the South West in Truro, Plymouth, Exeter, Taunton, Bath and Gloucester, so that young people who are not treated on the Teenage Cancer Trust Unit in Bristol, can receive specialist care in their local hospital or their own home.  You can read more about their work here

We have got some cracking new ideas for this year’s festival….watch this space!

Thank you to everyone who contributed.