Supporting teenagers and young adults with cancer (YPU)

The Teenage Cancer Trust (TCT) Young Persons Unit (YPU) at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham treats teenagers and young adults, aged 16-24, with cancer.

These young people, in the midst of their already difficult journey to adulthood, suddenly find themselves faced with a possibly life-threatening illness.  Many must put their lives on hold, just as it is starting to take off. YPU is designed to ensure that teenagers and young adults are diagnosed efficiently, treated effectively, and have the support they need to make it through their treatment and rebuild their lives after cancer.

Everyone at the Unit understands that this is an impressionable time in these young people’s lives and help is at hand to prepare them for the future.  It is important for their physical health and psychological wellbeing that they be treated in a specialist facility that is built to meet their needs, and for their emotional wellbeing that they are treated in a comfortable environment where they have the opportunity to meet other people their age who understand what they are going through.