We’re thrilled to announce that our charity has been awarded £8,800 of National Lottery funding to support our work educating people on the common signs and symptoms of blood cancer to help encourage earlier diagnosis.
Despite being the fifth most common cancer in the UK, and with over 40,000 people diagnosed every year in the UK, more still needs to be done to raise awareness of blood cancer and helping people to recognise the common symptoms to look out for.
The generous funding has supported the production, printing and distribution of our blood cancer booklets to members of the public when requested, our fundraisers, and local schools involved in our clothes recycling scheme – Donate Clothes 4 Sammy.
Our informative booklet is packed full of detailed information on the different forms of blood cancer, the treatments available – including stem cell transplants, and how families can bank their newborn baby’s umbilical cord blood stem cells for the future.
The money from the National Lottery has also funded the printing of our leaflets, which highlight the different blood cancer symptoms people can look out for in themselves and loved ones. The symptoms vary depending on the form of cancer, but the most common include fatigue, fevers and sweats, and easy bruising or bleeding, amongst others, which are often dismissed or overlooked.
Dr Joanna Tilley, our Operations Director said: “We’re delighted that the National Lottery Community Fund has recognised the importance of our work and provided vital funding for us to continue educating people on blood cancer.
“We want to provide patients and their families with clear information that would answer their questions, explain the terminology, and highlight the various treatments to provide reassurance and help them feel empowered to make informed choices.
“Thanks to the generosity of the National Lottery players, we can continue to fight blood cancer and help to protect the next generation from this disease.”
The National Lottery Community Fund recently launched its strategy, ‘It starts with community’, which will underpin its efforts to distribute at least £4 billion of National Lottery funding by 2030.
As part of this, the funder has four key missions, which are to support communities to come together, be environmentally sustainable, help children and young people thrive and enable people to live healthier lives.
National Lottery players raise over £30 million a week for good causes across the UK. Thanks to them, last year (2023/24) The National Lottery Community Fund awarded over half a billion pounds (£686.3 million) of life-changing funding to communities across the UK, supporting over 13,700 projects to turn their great ideas into reality. To find out more visit: www.TNLCommunityFund.org.uk.
To download our blood cancer guide online, click here.
