Castle Hill teenage cancer unit plan unveiled
- Published
Jonathan Tiplady was initially treated on an adult ward when he was diagnosed at the age of 20
Young people with cancer could soon receive specialist treatment in East Yorkshire - saving them journeys of at least 60 miles to the nearest facility.
Patients currently have to travel to Leeds or Sheffield to be treated at a specialist teenage cancer unit.
The Teenage Cancer Trust has now unveiled plans for a facility at the Castle Hill Hospital near Hull.
It needs to raise £150,000 to fund the unit, catering for 16 to 24-year-olds, which it hopes to open in February.
The Teenage Cancer Trust said the Castle Hill facility would include a three-bed unit, a day room with music area, a recreational area and outside space.
Cancer patient Jonathan Tiplady, 23, of Goole in East Yorkshire, spent months being treated at a teenage cancer unit in Leeds after previously being on an adult ward.
He said it was important for young people to be treated in their own environment and having a specialist unit in East Yorkshire would be a boost for local patients.
"It's a distraction from what's happening to you or around you" he said.
"Anything that can distract you, you know. I think everybody knows cancer is horrific."