Books help explain cancer to patients' families

The books detail treatments such as surgery and chemotherapy

Breast cancer nurses hope books they have written to help explain treatments to children will help the "whole family".

Authors and specialist nurses Emily Turnbull and Rachel Lockerbie wrote three stories aimed at primary school-aged children detailing procedures "mammy" went through, including surgery and chemotherapy.

They will be given free of charge to patients at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Gateshead, which also treats people living in South Tyneside, Durham and Sunderland.

Mother-of-five Leanne was diagnosed with breast cancer in July. She said: "These books just explain everything in such a easy-to-understand, child-friendly way."

She added: "They've just really helped to explain the journey that all of us as a family is going through at the moment."

The books were funded by Gateshead-based charity Women's Cancer Detection Society.

Charity manager Kathryn Jobes said: "You'll notice that we say mammy, and that's obviously with us being from the North East."

Rachel Lockerbie, Kathryn Jobes and Emily Turnbull hope to support families affected by cancer with the book

It is the first time books of this kind have been used within the breast cancer service.

Ms Turnbull said: "We wanted to make sure we looked after the whole family unit."

She said they chose to write three separate books, so families could pick one relevant to them.

They cover chemotherapy, radiotherapy and breast surgery.

"We wanted to make sure that we can explain something so complex in a way that children can understand and not be scared by it," Ms Turnbull said.

Ms Lockerbie said they hoped to write more books.

"I hope that we can help future patients," she said.