THE presents were under the tree and two-year-old Samuel Oswin was counting the days until Christmas when his family received news that he had leukemia.
During the Christmas season two years ago, Samuel underwent the highest level of chemotherapy his little body could handle.
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Two years ago, Samuel Oswin was counting the days until Christmas when his family received news that he had leukemiaPhoto credit: Oliver Dixon
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We’re launching The Sun on Sunday Xmas Cards For Kids campaign to raise money for families like Samuels
He then spent the next ten weeks in the hospital with parents Amy and Matt, both 38, by his bedside.
This year, thousands of children like Samuel will fight for their lives in what is arguably the happiest of times far from home – while their frightened parents will not be able to pay the gifts.
That’s why we’re launching The Sun on Sunday Xmas Cards For Kids campaign today to raise funds to buy gifts for these boys and girls.
We want YOUR children to paint a festive picture, then our jury will select three lucky winners, whose designs will be converted into limited-edition Christmas cards.
Then we would like YOU, our army of good hearted readers, to purchase these cards from our charity partner Young Lives vs Cancer website.
Your donations will be used to buy Christmas gifts and toys for the charity’s specialized Homes from Home units, where children and families can stay during the grueling treatment.
This is how your children can help
WE invite children across the country to help young cancer patients by entering our competition to design a Christmas card.
It can be a funny or a sentimental picture, in black and white or in color. It can be chic or simple.
There are three age groups – five and younger, six to ten and 11 to 16 years. Our jury will select a winning card from each category.
The three winning designs – on A-size paper (A4, A5, A6) so they can be scaled to A6 for printing the cards – are made by print.com in packs of 12 – four of each design – and sold for cash for toys collect.
Printed founder Nick Green says: “We are very excited to partner with The Sun on Sunday and Young Lives vs Cancer.
“Christmas is a time to come together and we hope we can help support those most in need.
“For the perfect card, we recommend not placing the text too close to the design edge, avoiding highlighters, bright colors and metallic gel pens, and not using glitter.”
Send your entries to sundayfeatures@the-sun.co.uk
- Just send an email to the address above with a photo of your child’s well-lit drawing and your child’s name, age address and a few words as to why they attended. In case it is one of the three winners that need to be scanned for printing, keep the original design. The terms and conditions apply
The card designs must be on A-size paper (A4, A5, A6) so that they can be scaled to A6 to be printed on the cards.
Samuel’s mother, Amy, said, “There are so many parents fighting, so many children fighting. I know what it means for a young child not to be home for Christmas.
“A small gift, to know that someone is looking after you, is something very special for a child who finds himself in such strange surroundings and is so desperately poor.
“I urge all of your readers to support this. Samuel loves art and drawing, so he will join in.
“The winning cards will be a treasure that children can treasure forever.”
When Samuel was diagnosed in 2019, his parents’ lives collapsed.
Amy from Swindon said, “He got tired and bruised the week before Christmas, but he was always racing around so we weren’t worried.
“Then he got purple freckles on his shoulder and I took him to the doctor. We were sent straight to the hospital. Just ten hours later, they told us he had blood cancer – leukemia.
“You feel like you’ve fallen off the edge of the world. We were looking forward to Christmas and suddenly we were told he had cancer. “
GUARDIAN ANGEL
At John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford, Amy and Matt, both project managers, met representatives from a charity they had never heard of before, but who became their guardian angels.
When Samuel’s life was at stake, a Young Lives vs Cancer social worker who helps families find the strength to face whatever cancer does to them stayed by their side as they find themselves in the terrifying New World where they were.
The charity also offers their Homes From Home, free accommodations for families near hospitals and treatment centers.
These help families stay together or close during difficult times, and some young people in treatment may stay in them instead of in the hospital.
Amy said, “Grace, a Young Lives vs Cancer social worker, spoke to our employers for us, contacted Samuel’s daycare center, and helped us fill out the endless forms that come with such a diagnosis.
“She attended every counseling session and became an extra member of the family at a time when we felt like everything was falling apart.
“We were also able to move into a Homes From Home across the street from the hospital.
“Young Lives vs Cancer were our Christmas angels at a time when we badly needed a miracle. There were so many families in the same situation as we who went to hospital for Christmas, and I know that some parents didn’t go out to buy presents, didn’t have the money to buy presents.
‘PLAN SPECIAL DAY’
“We’ve had some very difficult times, and hearing that Samuel needs further chemotherapy by March 2023 was one of the worst of them.
“On New Year’s Eve, I calmed him down so he could sleep in the hospital bed and ran my hand through his blond hair when tufts of it came out in my hand.
“I picked up all of his hair from the floor when he was fast asleep. This moment will never leave me. “
Samuel is now through more than half of the treatment that will hopefully save his young life.
But Amy said, “It will undoubtedly change his future. When his treatment is over, his journey will not be over. Administering adult strength chemotherapy to young children can cause complications later in life.
“He could be sterile, he’ll likely get cancer again, and of course. relapse can happen at any time.
“He fought Covid last Christmas, so we’re planning a special day this year. He’s becoming a huge soccer fan and that’s why we get him tickets to our local team, Swindon Town.
“And we’re going to be decorating the house with cards and we will definitely buy the winning cards when they go on sale.
“We want to be able to give something back”
How to donate
To donate to Young Lives vs Cancer’s Homes from Home, go to younglivesvscancer.org.uk/cardsforkids.
Or write:
ADD 5 to 70025 to give £ 5
ADD 10 to 70025 to give £ 10
ADD 20 to 70025 to give £ 20
Or call 0300 330 0803 (Mon-Fri, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.)
You can also send a check with your name and address to Young Lives vs Cancer at The Sun on Sunday Christmas Cards for Kids, Young Lives vs Cancer Campaign, 126 Fairlie Road, Slough SL1 4PY. Be sure to stick a postage stamp on the envelope.
As a supporter of Young Lives vs Cancer, you will receive updates and news about appeals by phone and mail. You can change how you hear about the charity by emailing the backer. services@younglivesvscancer.org.uk or by phone on 0300 330 0803.
Texts cost a donation plus a standard network tariff message. Young Lives vs. Cancer will receive 100 percent of your donation.
To unsubscribe from calls, send an SMS with NOCALL CLIC to 78866. To unsubscribe from SMS, send an SMS with NOSMS CLIC to 78866. SMS are charged at the standard rates of your network.
If you have any questions, call Young Lives vs Cancer on 0300 330 0803. Registered Charity Number 1107328 and Registered in Scotland SC039857.
Gaby comes to help
The YOUNG Lives vs Cancer ambassador and Xmas Cards For Kids judge Gaby Roslin supports our campaign.
The TV and radio host, a mother of two, said, “I urge all Sun readers to get their little ones to paint a festive picture and enter.
“It doesn’t matter whether you think you are good at art or not. I can’t wait to order tickets. “
Gaby’s mother Jackie died of lung cancer and her father, now 87-year-old BBC radio news anchor Clive, survived colon cancer in the 1990s.
She said, “A diagnosis of cancer is always devastating.
“But for young people it can be about keeping life as normal as possible during treatment, and Young Lives vs Cancer does it in so many ways. Young people can be resilient, but this charity is for them, their parents, and them everyone affected by a diagnosis is there. ” .
“I visited Homes from Home and met the great young people who stayed there over Christmas.
“Receiving a gift from a stranger who cares for her will be so wonderful for her.”
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At just two years old, Samuel was getting the highest dose of chemotherapy his little body could handle
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Samuel spent the next ten weeks in the hospital with parents Amy and Matt by his bedside
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Young Lives vs. Cancer Ambassador and Xmas Cards For Kids judge Gaby Roslin supports our campaignEmotional moment Countryfile’s Matt Baker meets a young amputee who has lost a leg to cancer
