Emma Lewell-Buck stresses the importance of having a children’s cancer strategy

This Tuesday (February 4) was World Cancer Day. So many of us have experienced the suffering and loss of a loved one with cancer. Fewer of us have had to endure the unimaginable pain of seeing your child suffer with cancer or losing a child to this awful disease.

Cancer remains the leading cause of death by disease in children and young people, with over 400 cancer deaths in the UK annually. That is hundreds of young lives lost and families forever changed.

It is widely known that many signs and symptoms of childhood cancer are the same as those for many common childhood illnesses, and that the types of cancer diagnosed in children are different from those seen in adults.

Great Ormond Street Hospital has found that, on average, a pitiful 2p of every £1 spent each year on cancer research goes towards dedicated research projects for childhood cancers.

Access to paediatric radiologists depends on postcode. In the north-east, there are only 0.2 consultants per 100,000 people, compared with 0.7 per 100,000 in London.

International comparisons show that the countries with the biggest improvements in cancer survival are those with long-term, adequately funded cancer plans.

Every single parent who has lived in this painful cancer ‘bubble’ knows what works, too: proper training, early diagnosis, research and access to treatment.

I have campaigned alongside The Children’s Cancer and Leukaemia Group and Young Lives vs Cancer in pushing for a Government commitment to a children and young people’s 10-year cancer plan, addressing diagnosis, treatment, patient experience, research, psychosocial support and living beyond cancer.

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It is wrong that we don’t have a bespoke, stand-alone children’s cancer strategy. It could save lives.

This week the Government confirmed to me that they would be resuming the Childhood Cancer Taskforce which began under the last Government. It is vital that the Taskforce sets out their recommendations swiftly so that Government can act.

Every life lost to cancer is heartbreaking. For those grieving for their children it is an unimaginable heartbreak that never leaves. Their pain and stories of loss will always be with me.