Living with a terminal diagnosis

Palliative Care

Looking after young people with a terminal diagnosis is a specialised focus of care in which our aim is to control symptoms and relieve suffering. Our main goal is improving quality of life for our patients and their loved ones.

Our approach is individualised and holistic and enables us to support our young people and the people they love in a way that they want to be treated, being led by them and discussing things at their own pace.

If one of our patients is diagnosed with a non-curative disease we would try to explore their thoughts, feelings and wishes in order to enable them to plan and be in control of how they would like to spend their remaining time and also facilitate discussions surrounding what they would like to happen when they do pass away.

These discussions involve some difficult subjects such as funeral planning, where they would prefer to be in their final days, planning their will, memory making, making sure that their digital legacy is safe and many other things which may be important to the individual.

We would try and facilitate special times to be shared with the young person and their loved ones and adopt an anything is possible attitude for wishes. Whether that may be going to a football match, jumping into a swimming pool or visiting Harry Potter  we believe that these experiences can provide positivity in such difficult times and that shared experiences with loved ones ensure lasting memories and comfort to those who lose someone special to them.

Exploring where a young person would like to be when they die is something that we feel is extremely important, but we also recognise that not everyone would want to do this and we respect those who decide not to discuss their prognosis at all, and those who would just like their parents and loved ones to take care of things for them, our support and guidance extends to parents, relatives and friends throughout this whole journey and beyond.

Many people feel that home is where they would like to be when they pass away and this is something we can facilitate through the use of community teams and other agencies such as Marie Curie and hospice at home. Our rooms on the Teenage Cancer Trust Units are always open for our young people to come into and if that is where they feel the most comfortable they can chose that as their preferred place. 

Alternatively there are local hospices in the East Midlands - Please see links below for further information:

We, as a team support patients and their families to explore all of their options to find the best one for them, whilst ensuring that their care is of the upmost importance, that nothing is set in stone and their choices are very much their own.