A young woman from Helston, who is living through and beyond cancer, is looking forward to a brighter 2022 after sailing with the Ellen MacArthur Cancer Trust last year.
Leanna Williams, 18, will get back on the water with the Trust this summer, having been previously supported by them following her treatment for acute lymphoblastic leukaemia.
Leanna first sailed with the Trust in 2018 from East Cowes on the Isle of Wight. This year, she will set sail with other young people living through and beyond cancer from Largs in the west of Scotland.
Speaking about the trips, Leanna said: "It’s just a safe place to be you.
"You can talk about cancer if you feel like it, but if you don’t want to, other people get it.
"They’ve gone through it too.
"It’s that place where you can just be yourself.
"It was my Young Lives vs Cancer nurse who told me about these trips.
"It was at a time when I was struggling quite a bit.
"It was amazing to go on that first trip, it meant so much that there were people who understood.
"I’d never been sailing before, I didn’t want to go back home, it was great, honestly."
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Reflecting on how cancer has been with her whole life, Leanna explained: "It’s the journey you go through, isn’t it.
"It makes you a stronger person afterward.
"I’ve grown up with cancer my whole life, I was diagnosed when I was 6 months old and relapsed when I was 3.
"It’s always been a label I’ve had.
"We don’t want to be treated differently.
"It can be quite tough sometimes, but it’s good to be surrounded by people who get it as well.
"It’s not necessarily the scars on the outside, but the scars on the inside you have too.
"With the Trust, you can just sort of let it all go.
"You don’t have to think about it because people get it, it’s amazing."
Dame Ellen MacArthur, the Trust’s founder and patron, said: "We hear it a lot, that for many young people what happens after treatment can be as difficult as, if not even more so, than the treatment itself.
"Receiving funding from People’s Postcode Lottery has been a game changer in enabling us to reach and have a positive impact on the lives of many hundreds of these young people over the past decade.
"We know the impact the Trust has on the mental wellbeing of young people living through and beyond cancer.
"Thanks to players of People’s Postcode Lottery, more and more will get the support they need to believe in a brighter future."
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