Now in my 40th year, I am definitely older and hopefully a little bit wiser, but still think I am 25!! Having children completely changes your outlook on life and I find myself reflecting on my childhood.

Like all parents you are always thinking how your children can have memorable, fun and happy experiences like you did. In the same breath we all sign up to the daily chores of getting up, working, going home, sleeping, to earn money to pay the bills and hopefully have some money left for a few luxuries like a nice holiday.

We have all moaned once in our lives about this, but have we really appreciated what we actually have? Food, a home, our health and the future. I cannot imagine being diagnosed with cancer, the uncertainty and fear associated with this illness or being that family member carer who has to put on a brave smile everyday no matter what and still carry out the daily chores we sometimes moan about.

As a parent you want your child to experience those memorable, fun and happy experiences, but the illness won’t allow you that time. This is when we need to give something back, and change our daily chores from getting up, working, going home, to include RUNNING or giving up some time and raise money for charity and then sleeping!!!!

Unfortunately, we all know family, friends and loved ones that have this terrible illness and I cannot fully understand how difficult it must be to come to terms with this illness, even unthinkable for a child who has barely started to live their life.

The charity Children with Cancer offers advice, support and care not only for the patient but for the family members too. Please take a moment and reflect on what you have, and then please support with me trying to make a difference for those children and families with cancer.

Here are a few facts
Almost 4,000 children and young people are diagnosed with cancer every year in the UK. That's ten every day.

The types of cancer affecting children are quite different from the cancers that affect teenagers and young adults (TYA)

Childhood cancer is rare - around 1,600 new cases are diagnosed every year in the UK (in children aged 0 to 14 years).

The most common childhood cancer is leukaemia, which accounts for almost one third of cases. Cancers of the brain and spinal cord (CNS tumours) are the next most common, accounting for one quarter of all cases.

• This means that around one child in 500 will develop some form of cancer by the age of 14 years.
• Childhood cancers account for 0.5 per cent of all cancers in the UK.
• Boys are more likely than girls to develop cancer, by a ratio of around 6:5. This varies by tumour type; the most striking excess is in lymphomas, which boys are more than twice as likely to develop.
• In Britain, childhood cancer incidence rates increased by 38 per cent between 1966 and 2000. Some of this increase is thought to be due to improvements in diagnosis and registration.
• Britain has the lowest childhood cancer rate in Europe, and one of the lowest of all western industrialised countries. Australia and the US have some of the highest rates. The reasons for this variation are not clear.

Around 2,200 15 to 24 year olds are diagnosed with cancer every year in the UK. This age group is referred to as ‘teenage and young adult’ or ‘TYA’.

TYA cancers bridge the gap between paediatric and adult oncology: many of the childhood cancers no longer feature and adult cancers begin to make up a significant proportion of the overall cancer burden.
Although relatively rare, compared with cancer in adults, cancer is more common in TYA than in children.

Cancer statistics for adults are generally classified according to the site of the tumour in the body, such as lung, bowel, breast. TYA cancers, however, are more appropriately classified using a system that also takes into account the type of cell and tissue from which the cancer originates. This system is similar, but not identical, to the system used for the classification of childhood tumours.

Thanks to investment in research and treatment, survival has increased dramatically over the past 50 years and four out of five young cancer patients can be successfully treated.

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