Many Cancer patients that we support have no access to transport to travel to their chemotherapy & radiotherapy treatments. Thanks to your generous donations, you are enabling patients to receive their vital Cancer treatment.
Cancer treatment often requires daily hospital visits for a number of weeks and months. To ensure that patients receive their treatment, our team of volunteer drivers are on the road daily bringing patients from their home to the hospital.
Your donations keep the Purple House car full with diesel & serviced so that it is always ready for our next call.
We also have launched our October Programme for Cancer patients, and anyone affected by Cancer. These services are only possible thanks to your generous support.
Highlights of the upcoming programme include:
The 7 week Stanford Cancer Thriving & Surviving Programme which helps patients rebuild their lives after Cancer.
The six week CLIMB Programme for children of a parent with Cancer, which helps children to cope with the mental health aspects of Cancer.
There are also monthly support groups for Breast Cancer, Parents of Children with Cancer, and a Carer's Support Group.
Specialist wig fitting & Mastectomy fitting clinics take place in Purple House with Caroline's Breast Care and Roches Hair Care.
One to one and group Physiotherapy and Cancer Rehab sessions take place in the Purple House Cancer Rehab gym on a daily basis, as well as daily Children's therapy services with Purple House child and adolescent counsellors and therapists.
Classes in yoga, knitting, and the Purple House Choir will also resume in September.
In addition to the above, the daily services available at Purple House include:
Drop-In Cancer Support Service• Counselling & Psychotherapy• Bereavement Support• Telephone Support Line• Complimentary Therapies & Acupuncture• Chemotherapy & Radiotherapy Transport Service• Benefits & Entitlements Service.
Purple House @Home is a special service whereby all of Purple House's classes and programmes are available to patients through Zoom, in the comfort of their own homes or care setting.
This would not be possible without your support.
Thank you for helping us to make a difference.
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Help us to support Cancer patients during this pandemic.
Due to the effects of Covid19 on our health services, many Cancer services will not return to normal until the end of the year.
With your help, we need to start preparing now for the mental health needs of cancer patients. We must ensure that children and teenagers living with cancer have access to the support they need at the time when the issues present, if not we risk bigger mental health problems as they grow into adulthood.
The World Health Organisation says that current Covid19 pandemic is testing the emotional and mental health resilience of many and it will lead to an increasing demand for mental health services. A recent study by Maynooth University and Trinity College (2020) found that 41% of the respondents reported feeling lonely and a further 20% reported feeling anxious.
Similarly, research published in the Lancet documented an increased prevalence of mental health symptoms such as low mood, anxiety and insomnia in cancer patients during this pandemic.
There is no doubt that Covid19 has brought us some very challenging times, along with increased levels of worry, anxiety and uncertainty, however Cancer patients are living with extraordinary challenges and stresses.
Every day at Purple House Cancer Support Centre, a front-line community-based organisation dealing directly with cancer patients, we are hearing about the anxiety, fear and loneliness caused by Covid 19. As Cancer patients are in the high-risk category of contracting Covid19, they must be extra careful, which has resulted in isolation among many patients.
Due to the ongoing Covid restrictions, many patient’s social interactions are limited, they must attend their hospital appointments alone and often they cannot see family members in their hour of need. Social relationships have ended abruptly which has resulted in feelings of loss, and funerals are not how they used to be. This has a direct impact on the grieving process and may lead to mental anguish later.
Cancer does not stop during Covid19. Sadly, people are still receiving the news that they have Cancer. Our telephone support line has seen a huge increase in calls from people who are very anxious about having to go into hospital for surgery or treatment. They are worried about getting Covid19; however, they also realise that they cannot defer their appointment or surgery.
Once the restrictions were announced last March, we established a Covid19 Cancer Support Team at Purple House. We knew we needed to respond quickly. Basically, this involved moving all our services from a physical setting to an online, telephone, and remote setting to keep both patients and our staff and volunteers safe.
Our Counselling service has moved to telephone and video counselling. This ensures patients receive vital psychological support wherever they live.
Patients now participate in our programmes like The Stanford Cancer Thriving & Surviving Programme from their hospital bed or from the safety of their own home and they regularly use Zoom to attend our Cancer support groups and classes such as yoga, creative writing, relaxation, Ukulele lessons and the Purple House Choir.
During Covid19, the demand for our food distribution service has increased tenfold. This is due to unemployment and the need for Cancer patients to self-isolate at home. Cancer patients cannot risk visiting the supermarket for groceries to feed themselves or their children; they cannot afford to get Covid19. Thanks to the generosity of the public, our volunteers are delivering food to Cancer patients daily. For many patients they visited, this was their own human contact of the day.
The impact of Covid19 on children living with Cancer is huge. Every child needs one good adult. The one good adult concept is thought to be a strong protective factor in a child’s well-being and mental health, however when mum or dad is ill with Cancer, the one good adult may be absent. This can lead to a child feeling unsafe, which is why community-based psycho-oncology services for children must be resourced. At Purple House we support many children who are cancer patients and as well as those who have a family member with Cancer. Our child and adolescence counsellors work with patients to support their emotional and mental health wellbeing during this time.
Central to being able to support Cancer patients during Covid19, was our ability as an organisation to react quickly and adapt our services quickly. We worked with the HSE to advise them our support plans and we notified all the Community Call Helplines in Ireland of our services. The credit for this goes to our amazing and committed team of Counsellors, Therapists, Support Workers and volunteers. In the space of a week, most of our physical services were provided online.
In my role as Manager of Purple House Cancer Support Centre in Bray, I have seen first-hand the outpouring of positivity and goodwill from our communities. Everyone coming together to help each other, and the most vulnerable in our towns and villages. Daily, we receive phone calls from people who have been temporarily laid off from work, offering their time to volunteer to help us to deliver food hampers to Cancer patients who are self-isolating or offering to drive patients into hospitals for their Chemotherapy or Radiotherapy treatments.
Thank you for helping us to achieve this.
The mental health effects of Covid19 will be with us for a very long time. There is a level of anxiety that Cancer patients experience, however when you add the anxiety that Covid19 brings, it can be very distressing.
Naturally during Covid19 all our fundraising events have been cancelled. At Purple House we rely heavily on fundraising to keep our doors open to support the 1,500 families who use our services each year. If you can help, please visit www.purplehouse.ie/donations
If you need Cancer support, please visit www.purplehouse.ie or call Purple House on 01-2866966. Our doors are open.
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This Christmas is going to be a very difficult time for us all, but it will be particularly hard for families living with Cancer.
Many Cancer patients are too unwell or anxious to leave their home or visit our Cancer Support Centre.
Covid19 has added an extra layer of fear, isolation and anxiety to Cancer patients as they are in the high-risk group.
Without Purple House’s ongoing Support Services, these people will be more isolated and alone, this can lead to other issues such as depression, isolation, feelings of low self-worth, anxiety, and fear.
Thanks to your very generous support this year, we will ensure that no person is forgotten this Christmas.
Cancer does not stop during Covid19. Sadly, people still receive the news that they have Cancer. Cancer treatment and surgery are also continuing.
One of the many services we provide is food provision.
However, during Covid19, the demand for this service has increased tenfold.
This is due to a number of factors including unemployment and the need for Cancer patients to self-isolate at home. Cancer patients cannot risk visiting the supermarket for groceries to feed themselves or their children; they cannot afford to get Covid19.
Our food programme provides food to Cancer patients who do not have the means to feed themselves due to financial pressures.
Your support will allow Purple House to cope with the demand on this vital service in the run up to the busy Christmas period.
Luke's Story:
My dad Gerry was very kind, funny and athletic.
He loved the gym and he ran a half marathon every December in Lanzarote.
Purple house helped me be more open and to talk about how I am feeling about my dad passing away.
Ann the art therapist was very funny and I loved going to see her every Wednesday during the summer.
Luke Age 12
Celine's Story:
My name is Celine, I’m 37 and I was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2019.
My daughter was 6 and I was looking for some kind of support for her, to help her understand what cancer was and also for her to know she wasn’t on her own.
We first came through the Purple House’s door for my daughter to attend a six-week programme called CLIMB, which is aimed at children.
My daughter learned more about cancer but in a child-friendly way. She also attends the children’s art class every week. She loves the girls facilitating the sessions and she loves meeting the other children, be it in person or currently online during covid19.
I finished treatment just before confinement and I’ve been lucky to be home to recover.
Having a child full-time at home, looking after them, playing, cooking, helping with homework, in addition to housework and resting/healing, was very difficult.
Having online art therapy sessions every week kept my daughter going and gave her a lot of happiness, which in turn helped with my stress levels! She felt connected to this amazing group, and so was I. Some weeks I wasn’t sure if she was the one looking forward to it the most or me!
Please donate, as little or as much as possible. Every euro counts. Spread the word.
Before I was diagnosed with cancer, I knew this was a bad illness to have. But I didn’t know that this experience changes your life forever. It’s still very recent and really raw, but having the support of the Purple House means the world to me and to my daughter.
They will go to great lengths to help everybody, in any way they can.
They really are an amazing charity and are so worth supporting.
Your support is greatly appreciated,
Thank You
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When Covid19 arrived in Ireland, we quickly reorganised our services and went into crisis mode to ensure that Cancer patients and our most vulnerable members of society were taken care of.
Imagine having to visit the hospital for your chemotherapy treatment, while also being very fearful of contracting Covid19. Cancer patients are at a very high risk of contracting Covid19 due to a weakened immune system.
Now think about how you are going to get to the hospital if you don't have a car and can't risk public transport.
Now think about when you get home and have to feed your children when there is no food in the house. Again you can't risk visiting a busy supermarket out of fear of getting Covid19.
At Purple House, we looked after all of these situations for over 6,650 people during Covid19 and this is all thanks to you and your generous donations.
We couldn't have done it without you.
Thanks to your support, we were able to provide the following during Covid19:
We are forever grateful to you for helping us to make such a vital difference.
Thank you.
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