11 March 2016
Bristol City footballers open wellbeing room for teenage cancer patients
Bristol City FC coaching staff and players joined teenage cancer
patients on Tuesday 8 March, to open the new state-of-the-art
wellbeing room on the Teenage Cancer Trust unit (Area 61)
at Bristol Haematology and Oncology Centre.
Former professional footballer and now Under-21s Manager, Wade
Elliott, and up and coming Academy players, Joe Morrell and Max
O'Leary, were put through their paces on the exercise bike as
current patient Louie Haffenden,17, gave the players a
mini fitness test.
The wellbeing room contains a top of the range exercise bike, a
complementary therapy plinth, yoga mats, gym balls and pull-up
bars. It has been beautifully decorated with coloured lights and a
stereo to make it as tranquil or as active as the young person
wants it to be.
Louie, from Somerset, is receiving treatment on the unit for
pineal germinoma cancer, a form of brain tumour. Louie was never
into sport at school and following his cancer diagnosis he found
taking part in physical activity even harder.
However he has found a new love for exercise after using the
wellbeing room. He said: "Going through cancer is one thing, but
when it affects your co-ordination, strength, and ability to do day
to day activities, that's something else. I now see the importance
of physical activity and how it can help me through my cancer
treatment. I am really excited to start working with the team to
build up my strength and hopefully become more able to take part in
sports in the future."
Joe Morrell, a Wales youth international player and midfielder
for Bristol City FC, said: "The Wellbeing room is a fantastic
resource for the young people on the unit. It's been an incredible
day meeting Louie and others, hearing how the Wellbeing room will
be such a vital resource in helping them recover from their
treatment."
Fran Hardman, Macmillan Teenage and Young Adult Wellbeing
Co-ordinator, said: "We're so excited to have officially opened the
Wellbeing room! I will be able to prescribe individualised physical
activity plans that can then be reviewed and adapted through
treatment and beyond to support each young person through
cancer."
Teenage Cancer Trust relies on donations to fund all of its
vital work and £1,000 a day needs to be raised. For every young
person the charity currently supports, there is another it cannot.
With continued support Teenage Cancer Trust aims to reach every
young person with cancer in the UK by 2020. To lend your support
email fundraising@teenagecancertrust.org
or call 020 7612 0370. For more information about
Teenage Cancer Trust and the work it does across the UK visit www.teenagecancertrust.org
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