Help families facing hidden costs of blood cancer

Aim

The programme aims to help families whose lives have been turned upside down by a blood cancer diagnosis

Why are we crowdfunding?

Thanks to our partnership with our longstanding supporter The Mortgage Quarter, your donations will be quadrupled by the Mortgage Advice Bureau Foundation! Donate £10 and we’ll get £40. T’s & C’s apply. One donation match per individual. Maximum match limits apply.

Match funding from the Mortgage Advice Bureau Foundation will assist our financial support programme, helping support families in Devon affected by blood cancer facing financial hardship because of their illness. The programme provides a lifeline to families whose lives have been turned upside down by blood cancer.

We not only support families in an emergency short term situation but also assist with long term financially stability. ELF's vision is that every family affected by blood cancers and blood disorders across Devon receives compassionate, tailored support. Blood cancer can affect anybody of any age, meaning we need to support patients of all ages. Treatment for blood cancer often requires lengthy procedures meaning days, weeks, or months at a time in and out of hospital and, in a lot of cases, years of follow up appointments. Over 3,000 people will be diagnosed with a haematological cancer this year in the Southwest.

Our financial support programme starts with a patient referral by the nurses who know them best. Our partnership with the Royal Devon University Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust (RDU) identifies patients experiencing financial difficulties. Following a referral to ELF and swift application eligibility checks, ELF can help immediately.

ELF’s emergency funding support has assisted patients of all ages, with some examples listed below:

• Additional childcare while mum faced a daily commute to visit dad who was facing months in hospital.

• A grandmother with a life-limiting prognosis, who needed to purchase hearing aids which allowed her to hear her grandchildren during the last months of her life.

• A single parent receiving palliative care, whose eldest child was due to become legal guardian of the younger children. The grant enabled them to pay rent arrears, keeping them housed while they prepared for an exceedingly difficult future.

• A new oven for a family of four (including a 4-year-old leukaemia patient) who had been cooking family meals in a microwave for months as they could not afford to replace their broken oven.

ELF’s partnership with a designated Citizens’ Advice (CA) Advisor helps families with more longer-term arrangements and financial stability, such as Universal Credit. Last year we helped families access over £600,000 in funding they were entitled to. Our programme helps families manage a significant lifestyle change as result of their illness with many patients, family carers and parents of childhood leukaemia patients out of work due to the illness.

Our other support services can also help families with cost saving during treatment with transport to and from appointments, complimentary refreshments at the hospital and access to free legal services like Will writing. We understand the impact finances can have on an individual’s mental health and we’re also able to offer our financial support service users emotional support if they need it through our counselling service.

Your donation will help us receive additional funds from the Mortgage Advice Bureau Foundation. Your gift will be used to help us provide support services for families whose lives have been turned upside down by a blood cancer diagnosis.

Who are we?

ELF was founded in 1980 by Dr Miles Joyner, a consultant haematologist at the RD&E. Dr Joyner wished to improve the lives of patients with blood cancer and blood disorders through improved facilities, better equipment and funding research. Registered as a charity in 1987, today ELF is the leading patient support organisation for families affected by blood cancer in the south west. Over the past 35 years, ELF has:

· Helped fund and build the RD&E Haematology Centre

· Funded the building of a critical care unit at the RD&E's Yarty Ward, the Chevithorne Family Suite

· Funded haematological research projects

· Funded NHS nurses and support roles

· Funded specialist equipment and fittings for the Haematology Centre

Provided support services for both patients and family members.

Impact

ELF's vision is that every family affected by blood cancers and blood disorders across Devon receives compassionate, tailored support. ELF led the fundraising efforts to create the RD&E Hospital Haematology Centre, which opened in 2003, and continues to support families from diagnosis, throughout treatment and beyond. As well as ongoing support for the Centre, the services we offer to patients include transport, accommodation, counselling, aromatherapy, equipment, financial and legal services.