Cancer charity raises £55,000 to avoid closure
BBCA 32-year-old charity which supports families affected by cancer has successfully raised £55,000 to stave off closure after a weekend of fundraising.
We Hear You (WHY), based in Frome in Somerset, receives no central government funding and says its costs have increased due to rising demand for its specialist counselling services.
After launching its fundraising campaign in January, WHY secured the final £10,000 it needed by hosting a 24-hour relay race, beginning on Saturday.
Charity chief executive Lucy Kitchener said: "Closure would have been a terrible loss. We support around 500 people per year, and for us to not be here would mean families not accessing the support they need."
WHY serves the residents of Somerset, Bath and North East Somerset and Wiltshire.
One of the families supported by the charity is that of Ben, who took part in the relay overnight.
In 2021 his then three-year-old daughter Esme was diagnosed with rhabdomyosarcoma, a rare and aggressive soft tissue cancer.
While Esme was "really well looked after", Ben said her sister Olivia "struggled" so she was offered therapy by WHY.
"For [Olivia], it was just that ability to have someone neutral, someone she could talk to, someone where she didn't have to worry about what she was saying, about sounding selfish or trying to divert things away from her sister who was going through cancer treatment," he added.
Finn, 16, ran 5km (3 miles) every day of February apart from the last day, on which he did a triathlon, raising £8,780 for WHY.
He did so after his mum, Kirsten, was given 16 weeks of counselling by the charity in 2025 following her breast cancer diagnosis.
"I needed an outlet and I didn't want that to be my family ... it was just really, really brilliant and helpful," Kirsten said.
"When people have finished treatment, there isn't really anything to be offered to us. I don't know what people would do if they didn't have that.
"I just feel really sad for people to not have what I benefitted from."
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