A message from CHILDREN with LEUKAEMIA

Leukaemia is cancer of the blood. It’s not hereditary. You can’t catch it. Yet, alarmingly, leukaemia is the most common childhood cancer.

In February 1987, leukaemia claimed the life of fourteen year old Paul O’Gorman.  Just nine months later, another devastating blow struck the O’Gorman family when Paul’s sister, Jean, was also killed by cancer.

Always a caring boy, Paul had made his parents promise to help other children with leukaemia and, within weeks of his death, they started fundraising.  In November 1987, just days after Jean’s death, they met Diana, Princess of Wales.  Deeply moved by the double tragedy, she personally helped establish this charity.

Paul continues to inspire the work of CHILDREN with LEUKAEMIA.  What started as a small memorial charity is now the UK’s leading charity dedicated to the conquest of childhood leukaemia through pioneering research, new treatments and the support of leukaemic children and their families. 

Fifty years ago, leukaemia was a virtual death sentence.  Tremendous advances in treatment and care mean that four out of five affected children now survive.  However, alarmingly, incidence of leukaemia has also increased steadily during the past fifty years and the treatments, which include chemotherapy, radiotherapy and bone marrow transplants, can themselves cause severe problems in the young children whose lives they save.

Thanks to the generous support of the public, many areas of research and treatment are being investigated and progressed.  Teams of researchers funded by CHILDREN with LEUKAEMIA are working towards the development of more effective, less punishing treatments which will not only drive up the survival rate still further but will reduce the risk of serious side-effects.

CHILDREN with LEUKAEMIA is determined to find out more about the causes of childhood leukaemia and through an annual grants programme, project funding is awarded to researchers around the world investigating why children develop leukaemia.  While research is the key to protecting future generations, the charity never forgets about the children who are suffering today and what work can be done to ease the burden on children and families who are struggling through the long months and years of treatment.  The Paul O’Gorman Patient Hotel at London’s Great Ormond Street Hospital, one of the recently funded projects, provides accommodation for families who are travelling to and from London for outpatient appointments and helps to avoid the difficulties of attending treatments.

With administration costs kept to a minimum, you can be sure that when you support CHILDREN with LEUKAEMIA, your money will be put to good use immediately in the fight to save young lives.