The Ellen MacArthur Trust takes young people aged between 8-18 sailing to help them regain their confidence, on their way to recovery from cancer, leukaemia and other serious illness.
This is a fantastic organisation which allows kids fighting cancer to experience the freedom and exhilaration of sailing.
HISTORY
In the summer of 2000, some months before the start of the Vendee Globe Round the World race, Ellen MacArthur went sailing in France with a group of children with cancer and leukaemia. The trip was organised by a French charity called A Chacun son Cap loosely translated as everyone has a goal. After this Ellen described this as one of the best days sailing she had ever had. “We laughed so much we had tears in our eyes and the kids were just incredible.” Having seen first hand what a great time the kids had sailing with A Chacun son Cap, and after also working with Sargent Cancer Care, Ellen began to investigate the possibility of starting something similar in the UK. The Ellen MacArthur Trust became a registered charity (no. 1096491) in late 2002, and was officially launched by Ellen on 2nd January 2003. In Ellen’s words:
“These are really special kids. In many ways they are just they same as everyone else, they are interested in the same things as kids their age, they have the same goals in life, but the difference is that they do this with a huge challenge ahead of them.
I face challenges out on the water, but these are challenges that I choose to do. They, on the other hand, don’t have this luxury. They battle against something harder than many of us could ever imagine and they do it with the biggest smiles on their faces. To me they are truly inspirational and if the EMT can help them in their battle in any way then that is a fantastic achievement.”
In the summer of 2000, some months before the start of the Vendee Globe Round the World race, Ellen MacArthur went sailing in France with a group of children with cancer and leukaemia. The trip was organised by a French charity called A Chacun son Cap loosely translated as everyone has a goal. After this Ellen described this as one of the best days sailing she had ever had. “We laughed so much we had tears in our eyes and the kids were just incredible.” Having seen first hand what a great time the kids had sailing with A Chacun son Cap, and after also working with Sargent Cancer Care, Ellen began to investigate the possibility of starting something similar in the UK. The Ellen MacArthur Trust became a registered charity (no. 1096491) in late 2002, and was officially launched by Ellen on 2nd January 2003. In Ellen’s words:
“These are really special kids. In many ways they are just they same as everyone else, they are interested in the same things as kids their age, they have the same goals in life, but the difference is that they do this with a huge challenge ahead of them.
I face challenges out on the water, but these are challenges that I choose to do. They, on the other hand, don’t have this luxury. They battle against something harder than many of us could ever imagine and they do it with the biggest smiles on their faces. To me they are truly inspirational and if the EMT can help them in their battle in any way then that is a fantastic achievement.”
To see what this charity offers click HERE to visit their website.
*Note: Ellen is giving a talk about the Trust at the Queens Medical Centre in Nottingham tonight (6pm). I can't go due to work (sadly!), but if you can get it sounds like a very interesting event.
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