September is worldwide Childhood Cancer Awareness month, so it is timely to discuss and publicise the work of a charity that the Brothers Trust supports called Momentum Children’s Charity.
Tom with Momentum’s founder Bianca Effemey during a hospital visit at Kingston where Tom was born.
Founded by a local hospital receptionist and some mums around a kitchen table to provide care and provision for gravely ill children and their families, Momentum is now present in 9 hospitals and their output is tangible and highly effective as you will see below in this short blog.
At any one time, Momentum cares for 260 children in active treatment, the vast majority of whom have cancer. We associate childhood with being the best time of our lives. Kicking a ball about, learning to ride and falling off our bikes and so it seems doubly cruel that some children are not so fortunate, not to mention their parents and siblings.
Some stark facts:
1 in 500 children will develop cancer.*
4000 children per year are diagnosed in the UK. **
10 families every day are given this bewildering news and I imagine, with this, absolutely everything is turned upside down. Children who should be at school are now at home and in hospital (on average 1 week in 4 during treatment) wreaking havoc with family normality, parent’s jobs and life more generally and keep in mind that the average treatment of childhood cancer is between 3 and 5 years.
Tom making a surprise visit to cheer up a young boy who is being supported by Momentum.
Medicine and healthcare is all about cure - to make the patient well again. But associated with a seriously ill child, are a myriad ancillary problems and particularly acute are mental health strains. Oncologists do not have time for bereaved parents or a mum feeling emotionally drained from the strain of their child being in an isolation room for up to 10 days and being too young to understand why.
And this is where Momentum are experts and really step up. Eighteen years since they were founded is almost two decades of acquired expertise for all things cancer care. Momentum Children’s Charity understand all of the pitfalls that cancer wreaks and what countering support is needed.
A complete provision, Momentum is an essential resource for families. Anchored by family support workers (The Brothers Trust fund 3 workers each year) to identify families and to provide a specifically tailored programme of support. From decorating children’s wards and isolation rooms, providing professional counsellors/therapists for patients, siblings and parents, respite holiday breaks in their holiday cabins, river trips in the Momentum boat and a raft of community opportunities to come together, their essential work goes way beyond the remit of any health system.
Momentum’s output is a factor of its community. Empathy is a key requirement here. A child’s diagnosis of cancer is really a family’s diagnosis also. Momentum depend on a thriving community of volunteer’s support; people who have experienced all possible outcomes of cancer from the euphoric cures to the bleak but inevitable deaths. This a very human experience and sharing it is vital. Momentum work hard to create a vibrant community with many different opportunities for patients and families to meet and to share their burden, including an ongoing bereavement counselling provision for however long families require.
Life-long friendships are forged via Momentum’s introductions and programmes with some parents using and contributing to Momentum’s work both as an act of remembrance and for the solace that comes from helping others.
Unlike medics with too many patients and too little time, Momentum Children’s Charity is available. A phone call at any time of day or a visit from their family support worker or another volunteer.
Momentum offered me hundreds of testimonials of their great work but I explained that I have a great anecdote of my own which is apt to share with our readers and supporters…
Just last week, I was home alone with our dog, Tessa. On a dog walk in Richmond Park, ahead of me was a lady and her dog and we were getting a little too close and Tessa might be becoming a nuisance. I say ‘might’ because keep in mind that Tessa is a perfect dog.
A dog walk is often supposed to be alone with just our thoughts. The lady glanced back a few times making me feel a little awkward. As I finally passed her, she stopped me. She appeared a little nervous and it quickly became apparent why as we chatted for the rest of our walk together.
She began by telling me that Momentum had helped her family enormously when her daughter was treated for cancer. First in the kidney which was treatable and then again in the brain which unfortunately was not. Her daughter died five years ago when she was only fourteen and her mother still obviously carries this burden and the scars. She sounded defeated about the inconsistent health funding across oncology care and the scant provision for certain childhood cancers like the one that took her daughter. But she was fulsome in her praise for Momentum and the work that they do and she wished to thank me for our support.
It was heartening to hear - not her thanks – but the impact that Momentum has on people like her. Her thanks are really a thanks to all the people who support our Trust and I am happy to be able to pass this on. This anonymous mum is one of many people that we are able to help because of you and I hope this is a pleasant reckoning for all our supporters.
Momentum is a great fit for our Trust. A small charity with no budget to advertise its good deeds and work. But we can happily do this for them and we will continue to support their noble efforts in what will sadly be an ongoing and unending battle.
So, do look out for the golden ribbons this September (World Childhood Cancer Awareness Month) across social media and elsewhere. If you have a golden Brothers Trust hoodie, complete with the ribbon – September is a timely month to wear it (depending on where you are of course) (readers near the equator please be sensible).
On behalf of my dog walking friend and countless others, thank you for supporting The Brothers Trust.
*Statistics from Children With Cancer UK Childhood cancer facts and statistics 2021 | Children with Cancer UK
** The data from UKHSA (March 2021) states 'there are around 3,755 children and young people diagnosed with cancer each year' (0-24 yrs)