What They Say: More Than Just a Bag.

Sometimes, kindness can be perfectly timed. A cancer diagnosis is always a shock and the implications affect everyone.

For some patients, receiving treatment can mean time away from work and the financial worry that might bring, for others, it could be illness, long periods in hospital or time without visitors.

Many people aren't in a position to spoil themselves. Others are sitting in a treatment chair for the very first time, frightened and with no idea what to expect.

That's where a Treatment Bag can help.

One recipient told us:

"It brightened what was a daunting day, not knowing what to expect of the treatment and later side effects."

It's a bag of useful things, of course. But on a rough day, it can feel like more.

Sometimes, the bag can help start a conversation

Nurses who hand the bags out, have told us that Treatment Bags help to break the ice and can soften an otherwise clinical, cold explanation of cancer treatment.

Looking through a Treatment Bag together can make that conversation easier - for both patient and nurse. Instead of merely listing possible side effects, there's something useful to talk about and look through.

Something that says, we're thinking about you.

And sometimes, it says you're not alone

We hear this time and again.

One recipient, living with terminal cancer, described their bag as a "wonderful gesture of kindness from strangers", before adding:

"We are not really alone, even though we do not know one another."

Perhaps that's why the handwritten letter can mean so much too. A few words from someone you've never met is a reminder that somebody is thinking of you.

And behind every bag are people the recipient will probably never meet.

Someone donated. Someone wrote a letter. Someone wrapped. Someone packed. Someone delivered. And eventually, someone placed it into their hands.

More than just a bag

A Treatment Bag can't change a diagnosis or take away the worry.

But it can brighten a difficult day. Help make a difficult conversation a little easier. Or is remind someone that people they have never met cared enough to do something kind.

That's quite a lot for one little bag to do.

Help us put another Treatment Bag into someone's hands.

A £20 donation can provide a bag of carefully chosen comforts for someone starting cancer treatment.

Gift a Bag