Engine on Track to Help Teen Cancer Victims

A ROLLING billboard for the Teenage Cancer Trust was launched at the weekend in the National Railway Museum at York.

An EWS freight locomotive – painted in the charity’s pale blue livery – was named Teenage Spirit by Chris Chittel, who plays Eric Pollard in Emmerdale.

A cheque for Pounds 250,000 was also presented to the trust by its Leeds fundraising committee. The money will be used to fund a new Teenage Cancer Trust unit opening in April at St James’s Hospital.

The charity’s regional fundraising manager, Heather Burns-Mace, said: “This piece of rolling publicity is just the most amazing idea. We are going to see it going all round the country.”

Ms Burns-Mace said Teenage Cancer Trust had eight units already operating with another five in development to help 17 to 24-year- olds. “We really will be making full use of this wonderful public relations opportunity,” she said.

She was given a copy of the locomotive’s nameboard Teenage Spirit by the chief executive of EWS, Keith Heller.

Mr Chittel said of children with cancer: “They need every assistance they can get and the Teenage Cancer Trust is helping to give their lives a little bit of quality.

“By 2012 the Teenage Cancer Trust will have 14 of these units. That is a gargantuan amount of money they have to raise, so if you get the opportunity dig deep.”

The idea of putting the Teenage Cancer Trust’s identity on the railways came from Geoff Spencer, director of resources at EWS, Britain’s largest rail freight operator.

Mr Spencer, who has supported the trust for many years, said: “I thought that as EWS trains are seen by millions of people a year, a special locomotive dedicated to Teenage Cancer Trust would be a powerful travelling advertisement for them.”

Six teenagers are told they have cancer each day. Many will receive their treatment on a ward with very young children or elderly patients. The trust, which funds specialist teenage units in NHS hospitals at a cost of Pounds 2m each, aims to have 14 open by 2012 to help every youngster with cancer in the UK.

Head of communications Lucy Jackson said: “These young patients don’t stop being teenagers just because they get cancer. Teenage Cancer Trust ensures that young cancer patients get the best possible care in hospital and the chance to do all the things that other teenagers do.”

(c) 2008 Yorkshire Post. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.