Our aim

In 1995, Julie Kent and her husband Bernard’s first daughter Emily died of a brain tumour when she was just three years old. Since then they have thrown themselves into fundraising for children with cancer in Gloucestershire.

After raising over £500k in 2023-2024 to fund a psychologist for 10 years, the current aim of Emily’s Gift is to raise enough money to fund a 'Blood Sampling Machine' for the Emily Kent Unit enabling the children’s blood to be tested in 45 seconds rather than wait for hours on the unit. Its price is currently unknown but we will provide an update when we know!

In addition to children in remission who need to be scanned regularly, there are currently over 30 children receiving cancer treatment in the Emily Kent Unit. The Blood Sampling Machine will greatly help the children suffering from cancer in the EKU by decreasing the waiting time for the blood results.

What others say

  • NHS England recently published the long-awaited Paediatric Oncology Shared Care Unit (POSCU) service specification document, that clearly states under Core Requirements that “There is adequate access to psychology services” and “each POSCU must have co-located: child and adolescent mental health services.”

    POSCU (Paediatric Oncology Shared Care Unit)

  • "Psychology support is an integral part of care for children and families being treated for cancer.”

    Dr Christina Parfitt, Consultant Paediatric Oncologist
    (Emily Kent Unit)

  • "There should be access to expert psychological support with clear routes of referral in principal treatment centres and other treatment settings. This should include identified psychologists, or other members of psychological services, with expertise in the care of children and young people with cancer. It is important that use is made of existing services and that access to these is facilitated.”

    NICE (National Institute for Health and Care Excellence)