Standing alongside youth coping with parent’s cancer

CanTeen and The Warehouse Group – standing alongside youth coping with parent’s cancer

CanTeen, with support from The Warehouse Group, has announced a new support service for children of cancer patients.

The non-profit organisation already supports 13-24 year olds dealing with their own cancer or that of a sibling and have recently extended that support to 13-24 year olds who have a parent with cancer or who have lost a parent to cancer.

A small group of ‘Offspring’ have been receiving support from CanTeen for the past 18 months but the number receiving help receive a significant boost with The Warehouse Group’s contribution of $61,000, as a result of the Bob Tindall Golf Classic, held on Thursday 17 March at Murawai Golf Club.

CanTeen CEO Bruce Pilbrow says this is an extremely high needs group of young people who’ve been falling through the cracks for many years.

“Adolescence is an incredibly tough time of life. Add into the mix for a young person the loss of the main anchor in their life and the results can be devastating.

“We know from those already receiving our help that young people dealing with a parent’s cancer diagnosis are more likely to have suicidal thoughts, abuse drugs and alcohol, run into issues with the police and have trouble at school. We are so grateful to The Warehouse Group for standing alongside these vulnerable New Zealanders,” says Pilbrow.

“Our association with CanTeen goes back many years and we are delighted to be supporting them with this project which will meet a huge need in supporting young people whose parents are suffering from cancer,” says Paul Walsh, Executive General Manager of Community and Environment at The Warehouse Group.

CanTeen say this funding is absolutely vital.

“We estimate that the number of Offspring in New Zealand could at least double the number of young people CanTeen supports.

“We know this service is essential and, with almost 30 years supporting young people dealing with cancer, we know CanTeen is the right organisation to provide that assistance. But we can’t do it without significant funding support from the community, says Pilbrow.

CanTeen receives no government funding and relies entirely on the generosity of New Zealand businesses and individuals.

To help support CanTeen and the needs of all young people facing cancer visit canteen.org.nz and click Donate Now.

ENDS

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