Being accessible and inclusive to all young people with a cancer diagnosis in the UK and ensuring every young person experiences belonging and improved mental wellbeing is at the heart of the Ellen MacArthur Cancer Trust’s new Ambitions, launched by Dame Ellen MacArthur in London on Wednesday (8 March).

The Ellen MacArthur Cancer Trust is a national charity that takes young people aged 8-24 on sailing and outdoor adventures to inspire them to believe in a brighter future living through and beyond cancer. Every day around 12 children, teenagers, and young adults under 24 are diagnosed with cancer. Happily, survival rates are increasing. But, of the 3,000 new young people the Trust could work with every year, it can currently support just nine per cent of those to go sailing for the first time – less than 1 in 10..

Launched at the British Medical Association, the Trust’s new Ambitions – ‘Bigger Impact, Brighter Futures – Our Ambitions 2023-2025’ – detail how the charity plans to reach, inspire, and support more young people than ever over the next three years.

Dame Ellen said: “Our understanding of the life-changing difference we make to young people living through and beyond cancer is greater than ever. We are learning how to have a ‘Bigger Impact’, and with that comes ‘Brighter Futures’ for more young people who experience the transformational magic of the Trust, whether that transformation happens after one trip or through coming back every year.

“Over 20 years we have evolved as a charity, and we will keep evolving as we strive to be a truly diverse and inclusive youth organisation that is relevant in the world we live in today. What we achieve in the next three years will lay the foundations for the next 20, but we will need help and support to get there.”

After being introduced by Dame Ellen, young people shared the difference being supported by the charity has made to their lives.

Emily Wright, 20, was diagnosed with an optic pathway glioma in 2011 – a kind of brain tumour that affected her vision – and is now registered blind. Emily first sailed with the Trust aged 13 from Cowes. She has since joined four sailing adventures, including the charity’s multi-leg voyage around Great Britain in 2017 and with Dame Ellen in 2022’s Round the Island Race. This summer she will volunteer on a trip. Emily discovered a new passion for sailing through the Trust, and having been training with GBR Blind Sailing, last year competed at two World Championship events in France and Oman.

Speaking at the launch, she said: “The Trust helped me gain confidence and feel like a normal young person again, and in getting back into especially active hobbies, which was an amazing thing to be able to do. The trips made me fall in love with sailing so I now sail whenever possible without impacting too much on my uni studies. It’s a brilliant way to find what you love doing and meet other people who are going through it with you.

“Being in the scenario where things like disabilities don’t hold you back shows the things you thought often make you different, do make you different, but for good reasons. And you can bring that and be a really unique and valuable person wherever you go.”

This year, the Ellen MacArthur Cancer Trust celebrates its 20th anniversary. The charity has grown from taking five young people from Great Ormond Street Hospital sailing in 2003, to supporting almost 2,900 young people after treatment from across the UK. This year the charity hopes to welcome 750 young people sailing or on outdoor adventures.

Frank Fletcher, Ellen MacArthur Cancer Trust CEO, added: “Today, 12 young people have heard they have cancer. Thanks to modern medicine, the majority will finish treatment and be told they can get back to ‘normal’. But many of them won’t know what ‘normal’ is anymore, and their future can feel like a daunting, overwhelming, prospect. That’s where we come in. We have to be ready for those 12 young people. And the 12 who are diagnosed tomorrow. And the 12 every day after that. That is what is what drives these Ambitions.”

For more information at the Ellen MacArthur Cancer Trust, including to download ‘Bigger Impact, Brighter Futures – Our Ambitions 2023-2025’ visit ellenmacarthurcancertrust.org or follow @EMCTrust across social media.

The post Dame Ellen MacArthur launches 2023-25 Ambitions for her charity appeared first on All At Sea.