19 June 2019
Long sleeves in the summer sun might not be ideal, but we at the Ellen MacArthur Cancer Trust prioritise the safety of everyone on our trips.
Everyone who comes on a Trust trip will be kitted out with super cool long-sleeve Musto t-shirts and UV-resistant caps, protecting their skin from direct sunlight exposure.
And we do mean super cool – 2019’s t-shirts were designed by 17-year-old Iona Sutherland from Kinross who won Musto’s design competition last year.
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Iona Sutherland's winning design - click to enlarge[/caption]
Her design – featuring the Ellen MacArthur Cancer Trust logo embraced by a sunset filled with inspirational words – has already been worn by almost 50 young people since the start of the season. By the end of the summer, hundreds more will have repped her symbolic and vibrant artwork.
Iona underwent almost a year of treatment for the rare Acute Undifferentiated Leukaemia at the Royal Hospital for Children in Glasgow between 2014 and 2015.
She has since joined us on two sailing trips: “The sailing trips I’ve been on have been really fun. I learnt skills I never thought I would learn, and now feel confident both with sailing and with socialising with new people.
“I was so delighted to win and proud to be behind the new Trust t-shirt!”
Musto’s Head of Marketing, Nick Houchin, said: “Iona’s symbolic sketch of a yacht sailing into blazing sunset captured how young people can embrace their future and re-engage with life after cancer.
“The relationship between the Ellen MacArthur Cancer Trust and Musto continues to go from strength to strength and we are delighted to give Iona’s wonderful design the platform it deserves on all of the Musto Trust t-shirts in 2019.”
Dame Ellen MacArthur added: “Iona’s design sums up what the Trust means to me and so many young people in recovery. I would like to send my warmest congratulations to Iona and thanks to Musto.”
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Everyone on a
trip in 2019 will receive Musto's long-sleeve t-shirt with Iona's design[/caption]
Everyone on 2019’s trips will have the chance to create the winning design for 2020’s Musto t-shirts! These long-sleeved tops are essential trip gear. Thanks to Musto’s competition, young people are able to wear expressive clothing while also protecting themselves from the sun.
Skin cancer is a common form of secondary cancer in young people who have had some sort of previous treatment such as radiation or chemotherapy.
Sun safety habits are therefore essential to a young person’s health.
Dr Dave Hobin, consultant paediatric and adolescent oncologist and Trust medical advisor and Trustee, stressed the importance of covering up: “At the EMCT we know that most of our young people will be particularly sensitive to UV due to their previous treatment and being out on the water increases this exposure due to reflection of UV from the water, so it doesn’t have to be a bright swelteringly hot sunny day to be at risk of sunburn, so we are very serious about protecting the young people on our trips from sunburn.
“We are very grateful to Musto for providing the long-sleeve T-shirts and caps and I’m afraid we make no excuse for lots of ‘nagging’ to apply suncream at regular intervals on the trips.”
Everyone who comes on a trip is also given a Trust water bottle and they have access to unlimited sunscreen, with skippers and volunteers trained to ensure everyone is sufficiently slathered at all times.