Help us make sure every young person feels they belong

Help us make sure every young person feels they belong

With the start of our summer adventures fast approaching and June just around the corner, it feels like the right moment to reflect on something important: every young person who comes to us deserves to feel fully seen. Not just as someone who has been through cancer, but as their whole self.

For LGBTQ+ young people, a cancer diagnosis can arrive at a complicated time, interrupting self-discovery, affecting body image, making it harder to feel understood or to find community. We want our trips and adventures to be spaces where none of that gets left at the door. It's why we have things like pronoun badges on our trips, and why we're always looking for ways to be more inclusive and welcoming.

Lauren was diagnosed with cancer as a child. By the time she returned to school after treatment, everything had changed - her peers had moved on, and she was only beginning to figure out who she was. On our adventures, she finally found a place where she felt safe to be herself.

"When I was going through treatment, the last thing I was thinking about was my own personal life, my sexuality, boyfriends, girlfriends, which all my friends were doing at the time. I didn't come out until I was 19 or 20, and the charity just helped me know who I was as a person because I could be myself. I didn't have to pretend that I didn't have cancer, or I wasn't gay. I could just be me and that was great."

Now 29 and a volunteer, Lauren says that feeling hasn't changed.

Honest conversations on our podcast

A couple of years ago, volunteers Amelia, Ivans and Louise sat down for an episode of our Sound Waves podcast and spoke honestly about what it meant to navigate both cancer and LGBTQ+ identity at the same time. It's a conversation worth listening to, about belonging, about being recognised as a whole person, and about why that recognition matters so much during recovery and beyond. Listen to the 'Pride Month: living genuinely in LGBTQ and cancer communities' episode here.

We've also worked with OUTpatients, the UK's only LGBTIQ+ cancer charity, who have delivered specialist inclusion training to our staff, volunteers and skippers. They run dedicated peer support groups and work nationally alongside organisations including Macmillan Cancer Support to improve how the wider cancer sector supports LGBTQ+ people. This partnership has taught us a lot, and there's still more to learn.

Share your story with us

We don't want this to be a token gesture - swapping our logo for a rainbow and calling it a day. Real progress means listening, learning, and doing better. The most powerful way we can grow is by hearing directly from the people in our community. So whether you want to share your story, your thoughts, or your ideas for how we can improve, we're opening that conversation and we want to hear from you.

If you're an LGBTQ+ young person who has sailed with us, followed our adventures, or connected with us in any way, we'd love to hear from you. Your experience can help shape how the Ellen MacArthur Cancer Trust shows up for the next young person who needs us.

Get in touch on Facebook or Instagram @emctrust or email [email protected].

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