Help Adolescents with Cancer

Helpline: 0161 688 6244
Web: www.hawc-co-uk.com

Help Adolescents with Cancer (HAWC) is a registered charity set up for any and every teenager who has been affected by cancer. It is run by adolescents with cancer, for adolescents with cancer, and they offer support to others by drawing on their own experiences. They have in excess of 600 members and they welcome young people from all hospitals and clinics, by referral from doctors and social workers or by approach by young people themselves who have been or are being affected by cancer or any life threatening disease.

The aims of the organisation are as follows:

• To have all teenagers in Great Britain and the Channel Islands who have or have had cancer belonging to HAWC and working together to improve facilities in hospitals.
• To have their voices heard by those who matter.
• To be able to talk more openly with doctors and discuss available treatments.
• To challenge government over young peoples' rights.
• To fight for more help in the fields of employment, education, benefits and driving.

HAWC can offer the following:

• Taking part in social activities.
• Attending group meetings.
• Support and counselling.
• Workshop ventures and holidays.

HAWC counselling aims to give members and their parents and siblings an opportunity to talk, explore feelings, think about problems in a new way and covers issues such as: anxiety over forthcoming treatment (chemotherapy, radiotherapy, surgery, bone marrow transplant); effect of hair loss; future possibility of having children; how to talk to medical professionals.