City Bridge Trust - London Community Response Fund

---

A huge thank you to City Bridge Trust for their support. We were kindly awarded a grant from the London Community Response Fund to make immediate changes to the delivery of vital physical activity and peer support services from in person to online, to ensure we could quickly meet the mental and physical wellbeing support needs of our young adults based in London.

Trekstock’s beneficiaries - either living with or beyond cancer have been significantly impacted by the pandemic in London. They are anxious about the effect that it may have on their own treatment plans with many being put on hold, with no face to face with their consultants or visitors from family whilst in treatment, they tell us they are feeling more alone than ever before. Our beneficiaries already struggle with visible and invisible effects of cancer affecting their physical, mental health and wellbeing. Covid-19 has meant all of these effects have been significantly compounded. The majority have been told to self isolate, with treatments being put on hold, in addition to reduced or no interactions with their clinical teams and lack of peer support.

In April our survey found; 89% of our community feel more anxious than usual, whilst 78% are doing less physical activity with reduced connections to others due to being housebound with poor motivation. 

Funding from the London Community Response Fund had an immediate impact on our beneficiaries at this critical time, helping continue to give them the lifeline they so desperately need at a time when our services are in demand and needed now more than ever. 

We are passionate about ensuring that no young adult faces cancer alone and are currently working hard to continue to make a transformative difference to the lives of those we support like Ellen; 

"During tough times like this Trekstock are so vital. Their support has been invaluable - from the support group, online fitness videos keeping me moving and the team being there to support and guide me through the challenges I'm facing. Emotionally it’s really tough at the moment, but having this support to keep life as normal as possible has meant so much. I don’t know where I’d be without Trekstock" Ellen, Leukaemia, London