Until no childhood is lost to cancer
Cancer doesn't care about childhood. But we do.
At Great Ormond Street Hospital Charity (GOSH Charity), we help keep families together, provide life-changing support and fund the special things – big and small – that help seriously ill kids, be kids.
We also fund vital cancer research that has helped to save many lives and means more children can stay at home and in school. But we can only stop cancer stealing childhoods with the support of people like you.
Our film below spotlights the harsh realities of childhood cancer and shows how we're dedicated to saving childhood, no matter how tough it gets.
Help give kids like Yumna the best chance possible
Two weeks after her second birthday, Yumna was diagnosed with a rare type of cancer. She came to Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH), where specialist teams care for children with the most complex cancers.
The treatment that followed really took its toll. “She turned into this little zombie,” her mum, Salma, says. “The Yumna that we knew and loved, we just lost her.”
Yumna spent Ramadan at GOSH having high-dose chemotherapy. She had sepsis and wasn’t allowed visitors other than her parents.
"She was always just with mum or dad at GOSH,” Salma says. “You could only have two people in the room, so she missed out on interacting with other children and seeing our extended family. Family rooms would have made a big difference.”
Yumna is just one in around 1,900 children* aged one to 14 in the UK who are diagnosed with cancer every year. Today, she’s cancer-free, thanks to the expert care she received.
We want to help beat cancer for more children like Yumna. That’s why we’re building a new, world-leading Children’s Cancer Centre. With state-of-the-art facilities and patient bedrooms designed to help children stay connected with loved ones, it will help give more children the best chance and the best childhood possible.
Join us to help build the new Children’s Cancer Centre
The new cancer centre will offer children far more than a hospital. It will be a school, playground, a garden and a home from home.
Donate to our Build it. Beat it. appeal today and help us build the future of children’s cancer care and beat cancer for more children.
The new cancer centre at GOSH will include:
A 20% increase in capacity, offering life-changing and life-saving care for more children with cancer.
State-of-the-art inpatient wards tailored to children with cancer, allowing children to stay connected with loved ones in a ‘home from home’ environment.
A new critical care unit with dedicated family spaces and on-site accommodation, allowing families to stay together at the most challenging of times.
New imaging technology that better reveals what’s happening inside cancer cells and improves GOSH’s diagnostic capability.
A new hospital school with more capacity for learning and play. Different age groups will have dedicated areas designed with their specific needs in mind.
A sustainable environment with green spaces and a roof garden, so children and their families can still have time outside, even when they can’t leave the hospital.
Stay tuned for the Children’s Cancer Centre build
You can find news stories and updates relating to our Build it. Beat it. appeal to help build the Children's Cancer Centre in the News and features section of our website. More information on the Children's Cancer Centre build can also be found on the redevelopment page on the hospital website.
To learn more about GOSH Charity's mission to transform the outcomes and experiences of children and young people with the rarest and hardest to treat cancers, read our cancer research strategy.
Your kind donation will contribute towards funding the new Children’s Cancer Centre at GOSH. Our target for this appeal is to raise £300 million. In the event that we cannot use your donation as originally intended, e.g. costs change, additional funds are received over and above our target, the needs of the hospital or patients change, or the project is no longer deliverable, we reserve the right to redirect funds for use against the Hospital’s most urgent needs.