The best treatment, support and care for young patients starts with our specialist service. The Teenage and Young Adult (TYA) service at The Christie now treats 270 young people with cancer every year.

But with your support, our experts could do so much more for young cancer patients. Please donate to help today.

Why our Teenage and Young Adult service needs your help

In 2014, when our young oncology unit outgrew its location, we opened The Teenage and Young Adult (TYA) service – with £10 million raised by wonderful supporters of The Christie Charity.

Over the past 10 years, the TYA service has helped thousands of young people with cancer so they can live longer, healthier lives. Today, a donation from you can help us keep supporting young cancer patients and stay at the forefront of TYA research and care.

A photo of a young cancer patient talking to a doctor

Donating to our TYA service campaign will help to fund several different areas for young people with cancer: specialist research, specialist support and specialist care.

Our experts are continually working on research to speed up diagnosis and improve treatments. This means that around 80% of young people with cancer are cured. But for some cancers, survival rates are under 50%.

With your support, our researchers can continue to drive cancer research forward. A gift today could help pay for a young patient to take part in a clinical research group to help discover and develop new treatments.

Following cancer treatment, our specialist physiotherapists and occupational therapists help young people regain movement and rebuild strength. Your support could help pay for our specialist physiotherapist to run a one-to-one session to support a young patient.

Our team has expertise in helping young people with the emotional impact of their cancer journey too. Everything we do is tailored around our patients, including the unit itself. Young patients say it doesn’t feel like being in hospital – with chill-out areas, a TYA music room, pool table and more.

A donation could help pay for activities, like a movie night for a group of young people undergoing cancer treatment.

How you’ve already supported young patients

Thanks to generous Christie Charity supporters like you, our TYA service has already helped so many young cancer patients. Patients like Taylor, who was diagnosed with thyroid cancer in March 2023 and treated at the TYA service at The Christie. He says he’s forever in debt to The Christie – read Taylor’s story to see why he’s supporting our TYA service campaign.

Our TYA service treats around 270 new patients each year and its specialist approach is unique in terms of cancer care across the country. The service provides specialist support to help young patients cope with the symptoms of their illness and support them through cancer treatment. As well as treating the cancer, we also help with patients’ emotional and psychological well-being.

The Christie’s occupational therapy is recognised as a leading service in England. Our professionals provide advice and support for other occupational therapists working with young people across the country.

Young people having treatment can feel cut off from their world. So the TYA unit provides a creative and supportive community space where they can relax and just be themselves.

We have a jukebox, pool table, Xbox games and music room with instruments – and more. We run creative workshops in arts and crafts. There’s also complementary therapy and stress management techniques.

Our unique approach helps young people build strength and resilience to live life beyond cancer. For example, our unique service ‘Your Way Forward’ offers young people money management, mental health and life skills too.

Every day, more young people will hear the devastating news that they have cancer. Your kind donation today can help us not only save lives, but save futures too. Though it may feel as if life is on pause, we can offer young patients at The Christie hope of an amazing life yet to come.

Last updated: September 2024