Confidence and childhood cancer

Chloe, our grants officer here at Children with Cancer Fund, now works full time for the charity after having her own experience battling childhood cancer when she was younger. Below she explains the impact that CWCF had on her and her family in providing support during this time whilst her confidence was at a low.

“In July 2013 I found a series of lumps in my neck. I had various doctor’s appointments and my GP prescribed antibiotics , but the lumps remained. Eventually I had a biopsy and scans which confirmed that I had stage three Hodgkin Lymphoma. The doctors told my parents who then had to break the news to myself and my two sisters, we were devastated.

I started chemotherapy which was a gruelling experience, I lost all of my hair and gained a lot of weight because of the steroids I had to take each day. My confidence hit an all-time low. I didn’t want anyone to see me because they didn’t understand.

That’s when Children with Cancer Fund came into our lives, they invited us along to social events with other families affected by childhood cancer. This came at exactly the right time, we realised we weren’t alone and there were others out there who understood exactly what we were going through.

I was very fortunate to go into remission in 2014, but the impact of my diagnosis didn’t stop there. We were so used to being in the care of The Royal Marsden, that when treatment stopped we weren’t sure how to start ‘living’ again, I experienced a lot of down days. This is where Children with Cancer Fund was amazing, they continued to invite us to social events and surprised me with treats when I was having a bad day. Knowing there was someone there for us through every part of our journey, was the reassurance we really needed.

I am so grateful for all of the treats, events and caravan breaks Children with Cancer Fund gave us, thanks to them some of our darkest days were made that little bit easier.”

Children with Cancer Fund aims to help families through these situations, so that children like Chloe can regain their confidence and face everything cancer throws at them.