Why we’re doing it.
CANCER – Cancer is a condition where cells in a specific part of the body grow and reproduce uncontrollably. The cancerous cells can invade and destroy surrounding healthy tissue, including organs.
Every 2 MINUTES someone in the UK is diagnosed with some form of cancer!
There are around 1,800 new cancer cases in children in the UK every year, that’s around 5 every day!
This indiscriminating disease requires months, in many cases years, of various treatments and continued surveillance to try to cure those suffering. Unfortunately, cures are an unreachable goal for some and living with cancer becomes their norm. To do this needs constant treatment and monitoring meaning many weeks, months even years of regular visits to hospital. To many people the hospital becomes a second home and the people taking care of you become friends. The treatments can be gruelling and life changing for most.
TYPE 1 DIABETES – Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune condition where your body’s own immune system attacks the beta cells in your pancreas. Your beta cells produce insulin, we need insulin to survive! Insulin allows the glucose in our blood to enter our cells and fuel our bodies. This is not to be confused with Type 2 diabetes (a very different condition).
There are around 36,000 children in the UK with Type 1 diabetes!
Only 8% of ALL diabetes conditions are Type 1!
Type 1 diabetes is a condition for life, there is no cure. It needs to be managed by regular blood glucose tests and administering insulin or consuming glucose. It is a constant balancing act to keep yourself stable and prevent further damage to your body. There is no day (or night) off from it, every type of emotion affects it, every type of food effects it, every type of physical activity effects it. We are lucky that we are at a point where technology is starting to really help people manage and control their diabetes, but as you can imagine these “gadgets” aren’t cheap.
The NHS has a budget and you’d be shocked to know what isn’t covered under this budget. Both Gloucester and Cheltenham hospitals rely on charitable donations to help fund the Oncology Unit and Paediatric Diabetes Unit.
