TJ’s pursuit of success

TJ was only 22 years old when he was diagnosed with a nasal pharyngeal carcinoma otherwise known as nasopharyngeal cancer, a rare type of head and neck cancer that starts in the upper part of your throat, behind the nose.

The day TJ was told he had cancer, his life drastically changed. TJ was studying to become a qualified personal trainer at the time, and had dedicated his life to his physical fitness, education and diet. TJ said "I've enjoyed doing training activities since I was in year ten, it was always something that I loved, and now after my diagnosis of cancer, I have lost all of those years of training, which has been really difficult for me to come to terms with".

However, after six months of rehabilitation TJ decided that cancer wasn’t going to stop him achieving his goal of becoming a personal trainer. Instead TJ battled through the physical and emotional hurdles in order to get back to college, ensuring he could complete his studies, making his dream become a reality.TJ is now a qualified personal trainer and wants to further his English language and literature grades. With the help of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham Charity, TJ is doing just that.

The hospital charity provides funding to The James Brindley School, a specialist school for young people with medical conditions and illnesses. The funding provides two specialist teachers up on the TCTYPU to sit with young adults and help them with their studies 5 days a week; the teachers can also help with UCAS applications, interview skills and apprenticeship advice. This service is one to one education for young people with cancer whilst receiving their gruelling radiotherapy and chemotherapy on the unit.

Balancing an education as well as having cancer can be an extremely stressful experience; the charity’s aim is to help young adults keep on track with their studies and have a normal routine whilst receiving treatment. For students like TJ, the private lessons that James Brindley teachers provide are vital in ensuring their hopes and aspirations continue to develop and are not held back by cancer.

TJ said: "For me when I was diagnosed, it really put my life into perspective, it made me value life a lot more"


"For a lot of the young adults that are going through their cancer journey, it can affect them and their family differently. My family would come to the hospital after a long journey and sometimes not have been able to have something to eat. They would be hungry and tired. The Charity provides fresh fruit and Dominos pizzas for us and our families which were really appreciated. It’s very nice for them to be able to provide that for people."

The hospital Charity also provides many added extras on the ward, for example a weekly Breakfast Club, Domino’s pizza nights and activities and games. None of this would be possible to provide without support from your donations.

TJ is currently in remission and is undergoing regular check-ups as well. He is working hard with the James Brindley teachers in order to gain even more qualifications.

If you are inspired by TJ’s story, please donate to our appeal so that you can help more young adults like TJ with Cancer achieve their dreams. Donations help up to 300 new young patients that are admitted each year: Click here to donate

To learn more about James Brindley School, please click here

Pictured above: James Brindley teacher Jayne Ruisi and student TJ