Jersey man calls for cancer ward for teenagers
A man from Jersey who lost his son to bone cancer is staging a sponsored walk to raise funds for a special unit at Southampton General Hospital.
Willie Nieuwburg wants to improve conditions for Jersey's teenagers when they are in hospital.
His son Marc died from osteosarcoma at the age of 19.
Mr Nieuwburg is organising a fundraising walk in August from St Catherine to St Brelade to raise money for the Teenage Cancer Trust.
He wants the money to be spent on creating a unit specially for teenagers in Southampton which would also be used by young people from Jersey.
Treatment on an adult ward had been a nightmare experience for his son, he said.
"Teenagers have their own problems, they go through puberty and their image is very important so imagine being diagnosed with cancer and losing your hair and eyebrows.
"And then on top of that having to stay on an adult ward where you have older people all around you and some are dying next to you, it is the worst nightmare for a teenager."
Mr Nieuwburg said Marc was eventually transferred to University College London's teenage cancer unit.
"There he was amongst teenagers where they could chat and maybe not even talk about cancer but other things....it was heaven."