THE CHILDREN'S
CANCER CENTRE
If you can help build it,
you can help beat it.
CANCER IS THE LEADING CAUSE OF DEATH IN CHILDREN AGED ONE TO 14.
New breakthroughs will save more lives – but we need the space to put them into practice. A place where new treatments will help more children get better.
That’s why we’re building a world-leading new Children’s Cancer Centre at Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH), to bring new breakthroughs to life and help more children beat cancer.
But we can only build it with your help. You can help save more children’s lives, brick by brick.
The Challenge
A child doesn’t have to die from cancer for it to take their life. It can take away their childhood, their innocence, their time spent with family, their opportunities to learn and even to have children of their own one day.
It can take away their dreams for the future.
It is a stark reminder that, despite incredible advances, we still have a long way to go to reduce the burden of this devastating disease.
OUR VISION
As the leading children’s hospital in the UK and one of the top children’s research hospitals in the world, Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) has a long history of pioneering breakthroughs in cancer care. From opening the UK’s first Leukaemia Research Unit in the 1960s to curing previously incurable cancer in 2015, we have the experience, the academic partnerships and the potential to change the face of children’s cancer care now and for future generations.
We’re now at a crucial tipping point.
Revolutionary advances in children’s cancer care, research and technology present exciting new possibilities for more effective, kinder treatments and cures for children.
By better understanding the genetics of a child’s cancer and predicting how it might behave based on the power of data, we can discover personalised and precise treatments to directly target their specific cancer. It’s this hope that children with cancer and their families are desperately waiting for.
Right now, there are extraordinary opportunities to improve the odds for these children once and for all. But, without next-generation specialist facilities to develop and deliver these complex treatments, and without advanced new spaces where children can thrive while undergoing care, it won’t become a reality.
That’s why GOSH has set out to create a new, world-leading Children’s Cancer Centre – a unique resource for children with some of the most complex cancers.
Designed with the needs of children and families at its very heart, this state-of-the-art centre will be far more than just a building. It will support every aspect of care for children and their families from diagnosis to remission.
Providing digitally advanced wards, cutting-edge imaging technology, state-of-the-art treatment facilities and a new school. Each child – and the adult they will become – is at the heart of everything we do.
What we learn and apply in the new Children’s Cancer Centre will help impact children far beyond the walls of the hospital; it will help children all over the world.
Working side-by-side with our world-renowned academic partners at the UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health and UCL Cancer Institute, GOSH can lead the pace of cancer care and create a centre that can accommodate the most urgent needs of each and every child, now and in the future.
It will be a centre that will treat the child, not just the cancer. A gateway for children to go on to better futures, where they not only survive, but flourish.
We have a once in a generation opportunity. An opportunity to redefine cancer care. But we can’t do it alone. It will take vision, collaboration and philanthropic leadership. We hope you will join us on this transformational journey.
If you can help BUILD IT. Together, we can BEAT IT.
Matthew Shaw
Chief Executive
Great Ormond Street Hospital
Louise Parkes
Chief Executive
Great Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity
THE NEED
One in five children with cancer dies from their disease.
We do all we can for each and every child. Yet sometimes a child’s cancer is too aggressive or too far advanced for us to save them. Tragically, Max couldn't be saved.
“We noticed a change in Max’s breathing, so thought best to get it checked right away at our local A&E. They did an X-ray and the doctor informed us that Max had a severe case of pneumonia. Max had a large tumour growing rapidly in his chest and needed to be transferred to GOSH where they would give us a diagnosis. We left right away”
“After two long weeks of waiting, we were called into the parents meeting room, the world was upon our shoulders. Max had been diagnosed with a Malignant Rhabdoid Tumour, a highly malignant childhood cancer. The prognosis was not good.”
“To be honest, when we first arrived at GOSH, I was actually quite relieved. Because of the journey we’d had at our local hospital and because Max’s cancer was so rare, they’d had no idea how to treat it.
"Treatment began right away; Max had a double-lumen Hickman line inserted into his side to have intensive chemotherapy administered every two weeks. Max was so poorly, he struggled to make it out of ITU, which meant we had to leave him every night to stay in the hospital accommodation.
"On the 11th July 2019, our world came crashing down. Max had been for a CT scan that morning to confirm some details for surgery, but surgery was no longer an option, nor was the high dose chemotherapy. The tumour had grown, the chemo was no longer working and there was no other treatment available.
"On 11th August 2019 at 8.37pm Max passed away cradled in our arms.
“When we received the bad news, it was in Max’s room – you couldn’t escape it. You had no breathing space. That room is your home, and the place we were making our happy memories, it's all we had. My hope is that the Cancer Centre will create places for families to receive and process news of their child, whatever the situation may be.”
Suzie Yardley, Max’s Mum.
“The Children’s Cancer Centre is not just a building, we’re resetting the agenda for cancer care and lifting the ambition so that more children survive and thrive after cancer.”
– Dr Emma Stockton, Chair of the Children’s Cancer Centre Clinical working group at GOSH
why gosh? why now?
GOSH has been at the forefront of advances in children’s cancer care for decades. Fifty years ago, 40% of children diagnosed with cancer survived. Today, it is closer to 84%. However, survival rates do not reflect the reality of what it is like to live with long-term side effects – many children face life-long challenges physically, mentally and emotionally. Some children can experience tremors, seizures, learning difficulties, physical disabilities and even problems with fertility.
Cancer can bring about lifelong harm. It’s an injustice that no child deserves.
When a child comes to GOSH, we’re often their last hope. But despite all our advancements, children with some of the hardest-to-treat cancers still have less than a 2% chance of survival. A cruel, harsh reality for those children and their families. Not only do we need to improve cancer care, we need to improve cancer outcomes – allowing children to lead better, longer lives with and after cancer.
You can help beat childhood cancer for generations to come.
Shockingly, children’s cancer rates are going up, not down. Since 1993 they have increased by 12%. We must be prepared to treat the children of the future.
Children with some of the hardest-to-treat cancers still have a less than 2% chance of survival.
The rapidly changing pace of cancer medicine has outstripped our existing cancer facilities, with some of our outpatient cancer clinics currently in buildings from the 1930s. Services are scattered across the hospital campus, which can mean multiple moves across the hospital and upheaval for children and families at an already distressing time. This can also mean clinicians waste their valuable time travelling between appointments and to where urgent care is needed. Crucially, they do not allow us to make the best possible use of our new technology and digital capabilities for the benefit of children with cancer. The centre will adapt to new models of care which may include an increased reliance on digital tele-medicine, greater care at home and in the community.
There is an urgent need for more innovative and gentler treatments that treat the child, not just the cancer. Chemotherapy and radiotherapy can lead to hair loss, nausea, pain and problems with cognition. That is why GOSH is advancing treatments guided by pioneering research and care tailored to each individual child. Being able to better understand the genetics of a child’s cancer presents an opportunity to create the most effective, personalised treatment with less long-term side effects.
No child should have to face cancer. But, if they do, we want there to be a place that can care for their every need, offer them the hope of a cure and the best chance of a healthy future.
PIONEERING NEW THERAPIES
We need treatments that not only treat cancer but stop it from coming back.
Austin, now 15 years old, was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia at the age of two. By the age of eight, he had dealt with three relapses and received all the traditional treatment options including radiotherapy, chemotherapy and two bone marrow transplants.
Austin’s Dad, Scott says:
“When Austin relapsed for a fourth time, our world came crashing down.
"Just when we thought we had exhausted every option, we found out there was a trial available for Austin at GOSH and had a life-changing meeting with Professor Persis Amrolia. I remember that day so clearly. He was talking about potential hope, and suddenly we could see a future both for Austin and for medicine. The trial would offer a completely different form of treatment.
“Two and a half years later, Austin is doing so well. He’s more physically active than he’s ever been."
Professor Persis Amrolia, Chief Investigator on CARPALL and Consultant at GOSH.
Professor Persis Amrolia, Chief Investigator on CARPALL and Consultant at GOSH.
“Austin was a real pioneer of CAR T-cell therapy, which harnesses the power of the immune system to specifically target cancer cells.
“While it doesn’t work for all children with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, it can offer real hope for those children who have run out of all other options.
“We hope to refine it further, reduce side effects and adapt this cutting-edge technology to target other severe forms of cancer.”
THE OPPORTUNITY
Right time, right place, right now
To achieve our vision of a Children’s Cancer Centre for the future, we need to further capitalise on the wave of technology and research advances happening right now. Things that previously sounded like science fiction are finally within our grasp. Our patients, our expertise, our digital environment and our partnerships mean that GOSH is uniquely positioned to make this vision a reality.
There is nowhere else in the UK that this vision can be realised.
Our pioneering cancer treatments need a pioneering new home. Will you help us build the new Children’s Cancer Centre at GOSH and beat childhood cancer for generations to come?
GOSH treats the highest number of children with cancer in the UK from around the world.
COMPLEX PATIENTS
The current children’s cancer unit at GOSH is already the largest in the UK, treating up to 1,400 children for cancer every year. These children come from across the UK and the world with some of the most challenging cancers, such as high-risk brain cancers, chemotherapy resistant leukaemias and relapsed solid tumours.
WORLD LEADING EXPERTISE
As the largest paediatric research and training centre in the UK, and one of only a handful of internationally recognised centres of excellence in the field of child health, GOSH continues to play a central role in improving the odds for children with the hardest-to-treat cancers.
The hospital is a world leader in gene and cellular therapies for children – a new generation of treatments tailored to each individual child that offer hope for lifelong cures. The Genomics Laboratory Hub, hosted at GOSH, and the opening of the new Zayed Centre for Research into Rare Disease in Children mean we have the infrastructure to provide genetic diagnoses and to develop novel pioneering therapies.
ADVANCED DIGITAL ENVIRONMENT
GOSH is now one of the most digitally advanced hospitals in the world.
Thanks to major investment in a centralised electronic patient record system and a powerfully linked analytics system, we have tripled our digital research capacity, and the power of big data will allow us to provide better care for children at GOSH and beyond. Bedside technology will allow children to stay connected with their loved ones when they are in hospital, learn more about their treatments or procedures through digital education tools, and continue their schoolwork virtually.
Investment in innovative digital systems is underpinned by a highly collaborative approach that has already led to industry partnerships that will help to advance processes for the benefit of the entire NHS.
Professor Neil Sebire, Chief Research Information Officer at GOSH
Professor Neil Sebire, Chief Research Information Officer at GOSH
"We are one of the most technologically advanced hospitals in the world from a digital perspective.
"This not only supports remote interactions with consultants but remote care and monitoring to a scale that has never been seen before.
“Expanding our digital technology and embedding it into a purpose-built cancer centre will not only help with research but personalised cancer care.”
POWERFUL RESEARCH AND PARTNERSHIPS
Many hospitals do not have an integrated, dedicated research facility. The proven and robust partnership between GOSH, UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health and UCL Cancer Institute has already led to important breakthroughs, including the recent development of a CAR T-cell therapy that has cured children with relapsed leukaemia. Likewise, the partnership with University College London Hospital will allow the use of an advanced proton beam therapy – a more precise form of radiotherapy – for children and young people with cancer.
Experts across GOSH are collaborating with the brightest minds in the field. Examples include launching international clinical trials and partnering with organisations like Cancer Research UK and collaborating with the Wellcome Sanger Institute, a world leader in genetics that played an integral part in sequencing the first human genome.
Professor Darren Hargrave, Consultant Oncologist and GOSH Charity Professor
Professor Darren Hargrave, Consultant Oncologist and GOSH Charity Professor
"At GOSH we are researching innovative ways to deliver treatments directly to tumours where we hope they will be most effective. To transform our standard of care and lead the pace in developing novel therapies, we need specialist intensive care units with departments positioned and working closely together to deliver life-changing treatments.
"The Children’s Cancer Centre will help us do that.”
Medical research not only benefits children at GOSH, other hospitals in the UK and around the world, but also generations of children yet to be born.
THE PLAN
A comprehensive new Children’s Cancer Centre
Located in the heart of central London, the major new centre will be an exemplar of healthcare design for children’s cancer care. As a truly comprehensive Children’s Cancer Centre, it will provide:
- A greater capacity to offer life-changing and life-saving care for up to 20% more children
- Digitally advanced inpatient wards tailored to children with cancer, that allow children to stay connected with their loved ones in a ‘home from home’ environment
- Increased access to clinical trials for families with few treatment options, and more research into kinder treatments with less long-term side effects so children can not only survive but thrive after treatment
- A new critical care unit with dedicated family breathing spaces and on-site accommodation, so that families can stay together at the most challenging of times
- Increased focus on nutrition, physical activity and wellbeing for children with cancer, to support recovery and improve outcomes
- New imaging technology that better reveals what’s happening inside cancer cells and improves GOSH’s diagnostic capability
- New hospital school with double the capacity and an outdoor garden, to ensure children are not disadvantaged
- Sustainable environment with green spaces and a roof garden - helping to protect our planet for the future of all children
The plans for our new state-of-the-art Children’s Cancer Centre are full of ambition, potential and possibility. Just like the children we care for. The children whose lives you can help save.
Take a tour of plans
for the centre
The main entrance
The House Bay
Digitally advanced clinical spaces running through the House and Garden Bays are tailored to children with cancer, so they can stay connected with loved ones in a “home from home” environment.
The Garden Bay
Providing children and staff access to outside spaces even during the most challenging times.
Roof Garden
Filled with plants and a seating area, providing people a moment of respite within the hospital grounds.
Building a new future
Teams are working hard so construction on the Children's Cancer Centre can start as soon as possible.
When the building opens, it will welcome children and families from across the world. It will not only become an iconic element of the hospital campus, but also set a precedent as world leader in children’s cancer care.
Following the hospital’s Climate and Health Emergency Declaration in 2021, the first hospital in London to do this, the Children’s Cancer Centre will also take advantage of opportunities to support the hospital in its journey towards zero carbon, including an investigation into the opportunities to significantly enhance the environment along Great Ormond Street.
We support children through their whole journey. Wherever that may lead.
SHARE OUR VISION
Help redefine children’s cancer care
Now there is a unique, once-in-a-generation opportunity to become part of the future of children’s cancer care.
While these changes will begin at GOSH, the learnings, findings and discoveries stand to benefit children from around the world and for generations to come.
GOSH Charity is aiming to raise £300million to help build the Children’s Cancer Centre and drive transformation in children’s cancer care. It will be funded by voluntary support and is the most ambitious fundraising challenge in our history.
With your help, we can make a difference to thousands of young lives.
As a philanthropic partner, we will recognise transformational gifts through naming rights for wards and signature spaces, including a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to name areas of the iconic Children’s Cancer Centre itself. We will also offer innovative ways to highlight support within the new building that will be accessible to the thousands of children and families who visit GOSH every year. At every stage we will share the impact of your support with you and demonstrate what we can achieve together.
A gift towards this centre will be a gift to future generations. A gift towards redefining cancer care in a modern era. This is the right time, this is the right place, and we need your support right now.
TOGETHER WE CAN BUILD IT.
TOGETHER WE CAN BEAT IT.
Thank you.
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