Childhood Cancer Foundation was founded in 2013 by a group of parents and family members of children with cancer.
We originally came together to start the Light It Up Gold campaign in Ireland. This campaign runs every year during Childhood Cancer Awareness Month in September.
We are a voluntary, parent-led organisation, & receive no government funding.
In August 2022 we joined together with CanCare4Living, a charity for survivors of childhood cancer, under the new name Childhood Cancer Ireland.
We continue to represent the voice of children, adolescents & young adults with cancer, survivors & their families as the national parent and survivor-led childhood cancer charity.
Childhood Cancer Ireland work hard to respect & honour the memory of all children & young people whose lives have been tragically taken by cancer.
Through the generosity of donors we are proud to fund supports & services for children with cancer & their families including:
- Shared Care Hospital Project to improve facilities for children with cancer hospitalised in isolation rooms in Ireland’s 16 Shared Care/ regional hospitals.
- Play Services: We fund Play Services on St John’s ward in the National children's cancer services, CHI at Crumlin to provide distraction and support when it is needed most.
- Beads of Courage™, the internationally recognised arts in medicine supportive care programme designed to help children understand & cope with their diagnosis. We have also extended the programme to siblings. Over 400 children and 150 siblings have taken part in the programme to date.
We continue to run awareness campaigns including Light It Up Gold, Gold Ribbon Conversations Podcast & promote the gold ribbon as the international symbol of childhood cancer.
We are working with the National Cancer Control Programme to implement recommendations in the National Cancer Strategy.
In partnership with the Irish Cancer Society, we set up a Peer to-Peer Support Programme to support parents following their child’s cancer diagnosis.
