THE MOTHER of a Cwmbran teenager who died aged just 18 from a rare form of cancer has called on party leaders to commit to setting up a Young Cancer Patient Travel Fund if they become the UK’s next Prime Minister.
Emily Clark died in March 2016 from a rare form of blood cancer. She had marked one year being cancer free shortly before her death, after suffering with non-Hodgkin (Burkitts) lymphoma twice.
Emily and her family faced a 60-mile round-trip to get to hospital following her diagnosis.
“During that time, life just turned upside down,” said Donna Dunn, Emily’s mum. “It was a huge strain on the family.
“My husband had to maintain a full-time job just to keep a roof over our heads.
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“When you feel like all your attention should be on your sick child you’re also trying to make ends meet.
“We had a massive problem with hospital car parking charges. The charges were so expensive, with one or both of us paying to park to be with Emily.
“In the first month that Emily was diagnosed it was costing £16 a day - by the end of the month we’d spent more on hospital car parking charges than our mortgage that month.
“During her treatment Emily spent over 300 nights in hospital so you can imagine how expensive it was.
“It would also cost £60 or £70 a week in petrol, sometimes sitting for hours in traffic on the M4 to get to Cardiff hospital.”
Ms Dunn is determined to help others struggling with the costs of travelling to hospital for their child’s treatment by sharing her story and supporting CLIC Sargent - a charity which supports children and young people with cancer - in calling on the next Prime Minister to set up a Young Cancer Patient Travel Fund.
“Emily always did so much to try and help other people; she raised thousands of pounds and encouraged many people to sign up to the bone marrow register and give blood,” she said.
“I’ve continued to campaign on her behalf. I know from our own experience just how big of an impact something like travel costs can have on families after their child is diagnosed with cancer - more needs to be done.”
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