A YOUNG man who recently beat cancer is appealing to people to back a Christmas campaign to support young people with the disease.

Prestonpans’ Jordan Eales was diagnosed with cancer last summer and credits Teenage Cancer Trust with helping him get through his treatment.

Now he is backing its 12 Days of Christmas Wishes appeal, which asks people to donate to the charity instead of sending Christmas cards or gifts to colleagues, clients or friends in the workplace or at school.

It has a list of days and pledges people can choose from, ranging from a Flip camera for a young person to share their story with others to a pledge to educate 1,200 local students on the signs of cancer.

Jordan, 20, who was diagnosed with Anaplastic large cell lymphoma in September last year, spent some of his time in the Teenage Cancer Trust unit at Edinburgh’s Western General Hospital during his treatment.

He had turned out several times for his local rugby club, Preston Lodge, prior to his diagnosis and, after beating the disease, he made it back to watch his team-mates win the National Shield final.

He said: “Without Teenage Cancer Trust, I don’t know if I could have got through my treatment. It would have been really hard for me to get to the other side.

“In the ‘normal’ ward, I sat beside older people and I wondered if I looked like them. But when I was in the unit, watching football or rugby, keeping in touch with my pals because there was wifi available, it was different.

“I know that being in the unit definitely helped me get through it. The staff were all amazing and having Helen, the youth support co-ordinator there, was just great.” Jordan has remained in touch with the charity following his treatment and helps raise its profile by speaking at corporate events about its units and how important it is to young people.

He has been working with Sharon Sheridan, the charity’s East of Scotland fundraiser.

Sharon said: “For every young person with cancer that we can support there is another somewhere else that we can’t and we’d like to ask local people to pledge their support for our 12 days of Christmas Wishes campaign to help us achieve the goal of supporting every young person with cancer from the moment they are diagnosed.” Teenage Cancer Trust funds and builds specialist units in NHS hospitals and provides dedicated staff, bringing young people together so they can be treated by teenage cancer experts.

The charity says young people, who have traditionally been treated alongside children or elderly patients, can feel extremely isolated, some never meeting another young person with cancer. Being treated alongside others their own age, its says, can make a huge difference.

To make a pledge, contact Sharon Sheridan at sharon.sheridan@teenagecancertrust.org or 07944 312502