COLLABORATIONS

Trekstock have got in touch with Cancer Chicks with interest in collaborating. I plan to do an event with Trekstock X Cancer Chicks for young women, who are interested in learning about beauty and fashion tips and general confidence boosters whilst going through cancer.

PRESS

For the launch of Cancer Chicks there will be articles on my story and how I created Cancer Chicks whilst going through chemo therapy. This will help gain awareness of the support available from cancer chicks.

LIFE AFTER CANCER

As I continue with my life after cancer I intend on creating a section of the website which is full of all the tips for life after cancer for the best and fastest recovery, as well as tips for hair growth, recipes and exercies.

PHOTOSHOOTS

At the moment the website is full of images of myself, and I intend on organising photoshoots with other willing cancer patients in order to have lots of young women on the website not just myself. I also want to do group photoshoots with lots of cancer chicks together to represent the togetherness of the community.

MEETUPS

The next step for creating more of a ‘togetherness’ for cancer chicks community is to begin organising meet ups and events for poeple to get to know eachother even more. This will also make sure poeple feel less alone. It is always great to talk to people going through the same thing.

YOUTUBE CHANNEL

It is crucial to me to start filming ‘how too’ videos on topics such as headscarves, makeup, scars, wigs, fashion and skin care. Filming videos on the topics will feel more personable and also a lot more easy to understand than reading the sections on the website.

Outcomes

I have created and published the only online cancer community and website which supports young women with cancer. Called “Cancer Chicks”. The website is a pool of advice and information, covering topics such as: Fashion Advice, Hair Loss advice, Beauty and Skincare advice, Positivity and also the opportunity to read about other young women with cancer. The online community is on Facebook, it is a private group where young women should feel safe asking advice on anything they like. There are several things which haven’t yet been achieved which are plans for the future for cancer chicks.

Outputs

The audience is fast growing with new people being diagnosed with cancer everyday. On average 2-5 people request to join the online community per day. The feedback I have received from Cancer Chicks is that it has been extremely helpful to get people through their diagnosis and treatment. With one girl saying “Thank you again for creating the cancer chicks page and website, its brought me closer to so many people in the same position as me!!” and many others saying the same.

Process

I began creating this online community through my Instagram account. When I began blogging about my own cancer journey, I noticed how helpful and inspiring this was to other young women with cancer. I began receiving hundreds of messages asking me questions on topics mainly based on appearance through cancer. This was when I realised the gap in the support from already existing charities. So I created the Facebook page called cancer chicks which people began joining and it quickly grew to over 200 members. I then began creating the cancer chicks website, which now acts as a hub of advice and information which young women need when faced with cancer.

Strengths

The main strengths of cancer chicks is that there is nothing else existing like it. It is a totally original idea which has stemmed from my own struggles and therefore I feel I have a greater understanding of what exactly is needed for women out there battling cancer. Secondly, the ‘togetherness’ of the community already is so comforting for women and if it wasn’t for cancer chicks this would have never happened.

The attention from news companies has lead to increased following on social media. This has been crucial to my research because it has meant I have had access to young women battling cancer. Therefore I can now ask them to fill out questionnaires and also have conversations regarding worries people have that they dont feel are being supported by charities elsewhere.

The stories in the news have mainly outlined the fact I have made the decision not to wear a wig. This has attracted a lot of attention from girls battling cancer because they wish they had the confidence to do the same. This is where I would like to help… By building up girls confidence to make them feel beautiful still whilst going through treatment.

I am going to create an up to date cancer community specifically aimed at young women between the ages of 16-30 (although this is not strict). The main issue my cancer community will address is physical appearance as through my extensive research and first hand experience it has become clear that this issue is by far the most daunting but also heavily overlooked by existing charities which are aimed at young people. This cancer community will aim to ensure women still feel confident and stylish whilst battling cancer, as well as offer a platform to visit to ask for advice and meet other young women fighting the same fight.

As a result of my research into young women battling cancer, I have been able to realise the areas that are not supported by charities which already exist. The most prominent issue that is overlooked by charities which support young people with cancer is the lack of confidence young women have as they go through so many physical changes to their body. Some of the physical changes young women go through include; hair loss (including eyebrows and eyelashes), weight gain or weight loss, discoloured skin, weakened or loss of finger nails, scars from operations, permanent lines inserted such as PICC lines or Hickman lines, rashes, discoloured teeth, swelling from steroids and many many more. Through the hundreds of young women reaching out to me via social media after the publicity of my blog and Instagram page, it became clear that young women battling cancer needed support when facing changes of their appearance. This daunting experience of cancer is often overlooked as one of the less important side effects but for many they noted it as the most daunting.

There is also currently not a platform whereby young women battling cancer can unite, this is important because through my questionnaire I found out that young women find it more convenient to turn to one another rather than a social worker provided by other charities.

As it stands there are no cancer communities made up of just young women which focus on physical appearance changes and confidence issues. Therefore my project will offer a community (via my website and social media platforms) for young women to turn to, to find advice on, for example, wigs and hair replacement systems, makeup techniques, skin care, head scarf tying techniques, nails and also fashion advice for covering up PICC lines or rashes or for disguising weight gain.

I will build social media platforms on Instagram and Facebook (the Facebook group will be request to join in order for a secure place to seek advice) and the Instagram page will be full of confident young women with cancer, with their stories as well as promoting the information available to access on the website.

The website will be stylish and on trend in order to create a platform which young women feel they can relate to, and feel that they are reading a regular fashion magazine or blog rather than something which is specific to cancer.

The first thing that I discovered was the need for additional support for young women who have been diagnosed with cancer, in particular surrounding body image. Hundreds of girls were reaching out to me on social media with issues surrounding wigs, makeup, hair, tan, nails, fashion and general confidence issues whilst battling cancer. People loved the photo’s and blogs that I posted because it gave them hope that they can still look like themselves whilst going through chemo-therapy and not like a ‘stereotypical cancer patient’.

I realised through completion of my SWOT charts on other charities, although there is plenty of support for young people who are diagnosed with cancer from charities such as Trekstock, Teenage cancer trust and CLIC Sargent, none of the charities offer support for confidence issues surrounding body image whilst battling cancer.

A critical part of my research into creating a cancer charity is the fact I am experiencing it all first hand. All of my blogs act as a way of writing down the way I feel whilst experiencing things like: being diagnosed, starting treatment, telling friends and family and most importantly changes to my body image such as hair loss. It is these blog posts which help me to navigate my charity. Whilst everyone does feel different at different stages, these do act as a good sign post as to what I feel is needed within my charity and peoples needs at different stages of their cancer journey.

The publicity I have achieved of my blog and Instagram has been a crucial part of my research because this is how I have managed to form such a large following and a large proportion of those are cancer fighters. In particular, young girls battling cancer. This means I have been able to do research such as questionnaires and also general conversations with people have given me an idea into what is needed in my charity.

I found out in my questionnaire that physical appearance was by far the most daunting aspect of a cancer diagnosis for most girls (65%). I also found out that nearly half of the people who attended the Look Good Feel Good makeup workshop felt that it was for older women. 99% of women also stated that they would have rather turned to “Cancer Chicks” (my online support group) for advice on appearance, and 90% for all other general advice too. 

Overall, I feel that I have found out the main issue which is left unsupported by cancer charities for young people is the issue of physical appearance. I feel that I have done enough research into the needs of cancer patients to design the charity to fulfil young women’s needs in this area.

By looking into other support groups such as mumsnet, breast cancer care and beat eating disorders, I have been able to establish the key features of each one and I can now decide which features I will utilise in my support group. For example, somewhere to show other peoples stories, a chat forum, and also the use of images and video content to make the page welcoming.

I have also been able to see the ways in which people are using their social media platforms. It seems that it is a great place to market your page, also to post inspirational quotes and other peoples stories, which is a great way to motivate people.

I think it is a great feature when these support groups have a blog, therefore I will be linking a blog to my website.

Lastly, I have realised that twitter is a really prominent feature of their social media presence, with twitter having one of the largest following on all 3 of these support groups.

The first thing that I discovered was the need for additional support for young women who have been diagnosed with cancer, in particular surrounding body image. Hundreds of girls were reaching out to me on social media with issues surrounding wigs, makeup, hair, tan, nails, fashion and general confidence issues whilst battling cancer. People loved the photo’s and blogs that I posted because it gave them hope that they can still look like themselves whilst going through chemo-therapy and not like a ‘stereotypical cancer patient’.

I realised through completion of my SWOT charts on other charities, although there is plenty of support for young people who are diagnosed with cancer from charities such as Trekstock, Teenage cancer trust and CLIC Sargent, none of the charities offer support for confidence issues surrounding body image whilst battling cancer.

A critical part of my research into creating a cancer charity is the fact I am experiencing it all first hand. All of my blogs act as a way of writing down the way I feel whilst experiencing things like: being diagnosed, starting treatment, telling friends and family and most importantly changes to my body image such as hair loss. It is these blog posts which help me to navigate my charity. Whilst everyone does feel different at different stages, these do act as a good sign post as to what I feel is needed within my charity and peoples needs at different stages of their cancer journey.

The publicity I have achieved of my blog and Instagram has been a crucial part of my research because this is how I have managed to form such a large following and a large proportion of those are cancer fighters. In particular, young girls battling cancer. This means I have been able to do research such as questionnaires and also general conversations with people have given me an idea into what is needed in my charity.

I found out in my questionnaire that physical appearance was by far the most daunting aspect of a cancer diagnosis for most girls (65%). I also found out that nearly half of the people who attended the Look Good Feel Good makeup workshop felt that it was for older women. 99% of women also stated that they would have rather turned to “Cancer Chicks” (my online support group) for advice on appearance, and 90% for all other general advice too. 

Overall, I feel that I have found out the main issue which is left unsupported by cancer charities for young people is the issue of physical appearance. I feel that I have done enough research into the needs of cancer patients to design the charity to fulfil young women’s needs in this area.

From my SWOT charts I found out that firstly that the key strengths of successful charities are to have celebrity ambassadors, because it is a successful way of making your charity well known. Another thing which makes charities successful is the way which they are able to bring together people who are battling cancer through meet ups. This is definitely something I hope to achieve with the development of my charity.

Another reason why cancer charities for young people are successful is through their PR and advertisemnt. Being able to create heartfelt content to draw in people to donate money, to make things like meet ups possible for cancer patients. I will be creating video content in order for people to understand the struggles of a cancer patient.

These SWOT charts have made it possible for me to outline the gaps in charities for young people. Although Look Good Feel Better does exist it is not aimed towards younger girls. I want to design a charity which is young and makes young people battling cancer feel like they have a young and current support network when it comes to appearance and the changes you go through when you are battling cancer.

I have decided to completely change the direction of my final major project, and it will not feed on from my research project. Since I now feel no passion towards the topic of gender neutral clothing as something else has taken my energy, resulting in me feeling entirely disconnected from my project. Instead, my FMP will feed on from a sudden change which has occurred in my life… I have been diagnosed with cancer.

When I was diagnosed the first thing I wanted to do was to find other young people who were going through the same thing, someone who I felt that I could relate too. I scoured the web for people who I could connect with and read content from, whether that be via a blog, a book, a documentary. But all I was faced with was terrifying content, things I didn’t want to see and people who I felt I couldn’t relate too. This is why my project will be all about documenting my journey and putting it out there for people to find, to relate too, to lift spirits and find the positives of their cancer journey.

I have decided that for my project I will be creating a charity for young women who are diagnosed with cancer. Women are offered little to no help with their appearence when diagnosed with cancer, and for many this is the hardest part and they suffer a confidence knock.

My aim is to create something which remains stylish, something which is current and personable.

I intend on helping girls with issues such as styling, beauty treatments, wigs and more.

Firstly I am going to research into other charities which already exist in order to point out where young women still need support, and also research into other forums which exist for other issues and why they are successful.