The financial impact on families when a child is diagnosed with Neuroblastoma

Mitchell’s Miracles provides financial and emotional support to families who's child has been diagnosed with the rare solid tumour childhood cancer, Neuroblastoma.  
Not only do the families have to cope with such a traumatic diagnosis, but they also have to face the financial impact.

We want to highlight a few key points to show just some of the financial implications, when being diagnosed with cancer and how your donations make such a big difference.

Great Ormond Street is one of the very few specialist hospital's to treat childhood cancer, and with it being situated in London transport costs mount up rapidly, including the congestion charge,  petrol, train tickets and parking fees.

To do this every journey everyday, could cost a family a minimum of £30.00. Then there is the travel to the child's local hospital for blood transfusions, antibiotics, platelets and dressing changes. This means hours of staying in the hospital, waiting for appointments and for the treatment to take place . Again, parking fees apply as well as the mileage to and from hospital.

The cost of eating in hospital to keep your strength up every day when your child is an impatient, and even as an outpatient is very costly. Thankfully the child will be provided meals from the NHS. A parent only receives the basic cooking facilities in hospital i.e. Microwave, toaster and kettle. 

Microwave meals are very costly not as filling or healthy, unlike home cooked meals.  But this is the only choice a parent has when staying in hospital with their child. It costs on average £15.00 each day to eat in hospital. Feedback from parents who are not in receipt of benefits, could not claim food vouchers from hospital. 

Loss of income Is a very big problem for many families when they have a child going through treatment for Neuroblastoma childhood cancer, as they may lose their full pay and only be entitled to half pay or SSP.

The household Bill's then become affected over time including Gas and electricity, mortgage and rent. Even keeping the car running which is needed with a poorly child, adds to the financial worries.  Wear and tear of the tyres, fuel, brakes, MOT’s etc, all come into effect with the amount of travelling that is needed when a child is fighting cancer.

With all the above mentioned, over 100 children a year are diagnosed with Neuroblastoma in the UK. With over 16 months of hospitalisation, on average this would cost a family around £16,000 in expenses. 

If jobs are lost, or benefits are not claimed then this is a massive amount to anyone who just want to care for their child with cancer and not having the worry of trying to find where their next pound will come from.

As a charity, we are here to help families in this situation, who are affected by any of the points we have mentioned above. It may not be much but it will at least help them to focus on getting their child well without the added financial stresses that cancer brings.
 
You can support a family by taking part in one of our upcoming events or fundraisers which you can find out about here. If your child has been diagnosed with any stage of Neuroblastoma, please apply for financial help and/or emotional support. 

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