kathy pritchard jones Archives - Youth Cancer Europe (YCE)

“I am very confident that young people can contribute on a professional level, speak with the same voice that health politicians want to hear and speak with the same competence and dignity [of] that [of] the health professionals, but in doing so there remains their own personal touch with the disease. One example [is] me living with cancer for eight years now and taking pills every day, I see that through young patients’ voice you can make a big change. It should not be localized or nationalized, it is the time for it to go global. Let’s start from something and Youth Cancer Europe is a very a timely initiative that I believe will tackle a lot of imminent needs and I believe it will attract a lot of support.”

Sarunas Narbutas – Lithuania

  • Advisor to the President of the Republic of Lithuania,
  • Lecturer on EU and International Law at Vilnius University,
  • PhD Candidate (Networked Governance),
  • President of the Lithuanian Cancer Patient Society,
  • Cancer survivor

“[Institutions] like medical and pharma are in need of an organization that connect all of the other NGOs all around Europe, not only Western Europe but also Eastern Europe, and not only NGOs but also connect patients with clinical trials, with other doctors from other countries and connect doctors between them. And I think that what I see as being done is exactly what [is needed] on the European level right now.”

Emanuel Schipor – Romania

  • Student at the Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Cluj-Napoca
  • Patient Support Volunteer
  • Assistant to Little People hospital psychologist, Institute of Oncology in Cluj-Napoca
  • Cancer survivor

“Not only do we need to empower survivors to look after themselves better, but we also need their help. As a medical research community we need the survivors to tell us what are the important questions that we need to be doing research on in the future.”

Kathy Pritchard-Jones, MBCh, Ph.d.MD – United Kingdom

  • Professor of Paediatric Oncology University College London
  • Institute of Child Health
  • Steering Committee member of ENCCA (European Network Cancer research in Children and Adolescents)

“I think survivors also should be able to express their voice and be part of the decision making process.”

Florin Barnea – Romania

  • Business owner and lead designer of Digital Etiquette
  • Student at the Faculty of Philosophy and Political Sciences, Iasi
  • Cancer survivor

“I think that the idea is very much welcome and I hope that we will be able to collaborate together and go for it strategically”

Dr. Riccardo Haupt, MD – Italy

  • Head of Epidemiology and Biostatistics Hematology and Olcology Institute Giannina Gaslini Genova, Italy
  • Founding member of PanCare

“I think that anything that gets young people with this experience to connect and share experiences and learn from each other is a good thing.”

Lars Hjorth, M.D lose belly fat fast. Ph.D. – Denmark

  • Consultant Paediatric Oncology and Hematology Department of Paediatrics, Skane University Hospital
  • Chairperson PanCare
  • Coordinator PanCareSurfUp

“It’s extremely important that all adults who went through cancer when they were young, get together, share, explain, help the new ones and help us.”

Gilles Vassal M.D. Ph.D. – France

  • Professor of Oncology in University Paris-Sud
  • Head of Clinical Research at Gustave Roussy Institute
  • President of SIOPE (European Society of Pediatric Oncolgy)
  • Founder of ENCCA (European Network Cancer research in Children and Adolescents) and ITTC

“I definitely think that a united voice is much stronger and at the very least it shows that young people are not facing these issues alone”

Mathew J. Cooke – United Kingdom

  • Phd Candidate (Politics), University of Cambridge
  • Member, NHS England’s Teenage and Young People Cancer Clinical Reference Group
  • Member, NCRI Teenage and Young Adult Clinical Studies Group
  • Cancer survivor

“Here it does not matter who you are, it matters what you’ve been through, and it matters that you are willing to share and that you stand on equal grounds with the rest of the participants. So yes, I definitely believe that Youth Cancer Europe is the perfect forum for young people with cancer to develop their full potential.”

Karina Kopriva – Romania

  • Political Science Graduate, BBU, Cluj-Napoca
  • Consultant on external affairs, Little People Romania and Republic of Moldova