'I really needed a charity like this to understand my own story' says young Horsham cancer survivor

Edward Gordon-Thomson was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) at the age of two. After “too much pent-up energy, anger and too many emotions to hold on to”, he set sail with the charity to meet people and realise that it wasn’t just him.

The Ellen MacArthur Cancer Trust takes young people aged 18-24 on sailing and outdoor adventures to inspire them to believe in a brighter future living through and beyond cancer.

Edward said: “Having been diagnosed when I was two, finishing treatment when I was seven, I was just too young to understand it. When I finished treatment, I couldn’t understand what was going on. I boxed it up and didn’t want to speak about it. I really needed a charity like this to understand my own story.

“Being able to come to it as a teenager, to meet people and to realise that I’m not the only person has meant that instead of it consuming my whole life like a beach ball, where I can’t see past it, it’s now like a little tennis ball and I can see everything. It has become part of my life rather than my whole life. I’ve only been able to gain that feeling and belief through these trips.”

Cancer can have a big impact on a young person’s mental wellbeing beyond treatment, and what happens afterwards can often be as difficult as treatment itself - if not even more so. This is not understood or talked about as much as it should be, leading young people to feel like they are the only one finding life after cancer just as hard.

Once their treatment has finished, they are often left with fewer friends and struggle with relationships, their education suffers, they miss out on work experience, and they develop body image issues. Late effects of being diagnosed young include infertility, extreme fatigue, osteoporosis, thyroid problems, and hearing or vision loss.

Adjusting to this ‘new normal’ can be extremely difficult, which is why when treatment ends, the Ellen MacArthur Cancer Trust’s work begins.

Through the charity’s sailing and outdoor adventures, young people gain a new sense of purpose and self-worth, rediscover their independence, and feel optimistic about what comes next in life. They realise what they are capable of, stop feeling like ‘the only one’, and their mental wellbeing improves.

They start to re-establish their purpose and place in the world and believe in a brighter future.

Reflecting on the feeling of an unspoken connection, he said: “Back home, you can explain it. You can explain the feelings, the emotions and the memories, and people can sympathise. But here, people empathise. You don’t need to explain yourself.

“I was very nervous before coming onboard, but this week has definitely changed my outlook. The work that charities like the Ellen MacArthur Cancer Trust do have made me want to face my own challenges. It was a long road, but now I feel like I’m in a place where I can volunteer, which is the best news and I’m really excited!”

Founder and Patron of the charity, Dame Ellen MacArthur, said: “We see it time and time again. Young people arrive anxious and isolated. But they leave feeling part of something, accepted, independent, and optimistic.

“We are only able to support as many young people as we do thanks to the players of People’s Postcode Lottery. Because of them, thousands of young lives have been transformed after cancer through life-changing sailing and outdoor activity adventures.

“This summer we will welcome hundreds of young people from right across the UK who need post-treatment support. We will be there for them and they will believe in a brighter future.”

The Ellen MacArthur Cancer Trust is there for anyone looking for support, no matter how long off treatment they are. Visit ellenmacarthurcancertrust.org or follow @emctrust on social media.