Girls unscripted
'During my cancer treatment, I was so lucky to have Guides in my life.'
Illustrations by Sally Waite/agencyrush.com
In this column, we invite members of Amplify, our youth steering group, and Advocates, who lead Girlguiding’s public-facing campaigning and research, to share what’s on their minds. Each topic is chosen by them, to let volunteers know what they’re thinking about, what they love, and why it matters to them.
In this edition, Rosa from Amplify tells us about how one volunteer made a massive difference and helped her to stay connected with guiding while she was in hospital, receiving treatment for cancer.
‘When I was diagnosed with cancer, everything in my life stopped. It was the beginning of January 2024 when I went into A&E thinking I might have a kidney infection. But when they did an x-ray, they found I had stage 4 non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.
‘When that happened, I went straight from A&E to the teenage cancer ward in the hospital. I spent most of the next 4 months living in hospital while I went through chemotherapy and immunotherapy.
‘My life was full of uncertainty. My normal routine of school and Guides was replaced with one of medicines, injections, and nurses and doctors coming in and out of my room. I had to stop going to school and I had to stop going to Guides. (I was more sad about missing the latter!)
'Instead of being with my friends in my 3rd year of secondary school, I did lessons with the hospital teacher and online.
'But there was no substitute for Guides at the hospital.
‘My diagnosis happened just before I turned 14. As well as my birthday (at the end of January) I had been looking forward to becoming a young leader and volunteering with my unit when I turned 14. But now I couldn’t go to meetings or see my unit and leaders. My unit leader was really good at keeping in touch with me but I felt like I wasn’t part of Guides anymore.
‘But at the same time all this was happening, a new volunteer started with my unit. I hadn’t met her because she started at the same time as I was admitted. Her name is Rachael and my unit leader told me that she might be able to work with me on my young leader qualification while I was in hospital.
'A few weeks later, Rachael came up to see me on the ward. She brought all the materials I needed to do my young leader qualification, and some crafts for us to do together. She stayed for the afternoon, and after that she came back every few weeks. Rachael had worked with young people in a hospital before so she understood what it was like to be a patient. She knew things like she needed to be careful with germs, and that I might get tired while she was there.
‘I looked forward to her visits - and having things to look forward to is rare in hospital! She brought me badges and told me about the girls in my Guides unit. She knew a lot about Guides too and she told me about visiting other countries with Guides, and different awards and badges I could work on in hospital. We decorated pillow cases and picture frames, and she brought me some needlework to keep me busy. And we worked through a lot of the young leader qualification, focusing on the things I could do without being in the unit.
‘When I got out of hospital, I still had to be careful around groups because I didn’t have a very good immune system. Rachael came to my house instead to help me work on my guiding qualifications.
‘Having Rachael and Guides meant there was a constant in my life when my world was changing. It also meant when I was well enough I could return to Guides without feeling like I’d missed everything and wasn’t part of it anymore. It gave me something to do and focus on that wasn’t related to hospital or to cancer.
‘I feel incredibly lucky that Rachael was willing to make this happen. She put in her time and energy to come up to hospital and work with just me.
‘Now that my treatment is finished I can go back to regular unit meetings. I’m also volunteering with Brownies. I feel like this is important because I can see the difference Guides makes to the girls and how important it is that they have a space to express themselves and be part of something.
‘Volunteers are what make Guides happen. This year I applied to join Amplify because I wanted to help make guiding more inclusive for girls who are in hospital or have long term health conditions.
Wouldn’t it be great if there were unit meetings or activities for Guides to do in hospital? Or a way for them to do activities with someone when they couldn’t attend regular meetings? Or if every hospital had a Guides volunteer who could work on badges with patients?
‘Rachael made such a difference during my treatment. I know all the volunteers are amazing but she thought outside of the box to find ways to keep me involved in Guides and to keep the guiding spirit. I’m lucky that my cancer is in remission and I’m better now. But I’m also lucky to have Guides, and people like Rachael, in my life.’
Rachael told us: ‘I’m so pleased to have been able to keep up Rosa’s connection with guiding through her treatment last year. My prior experience in volunteering with the Guide and Scout unit at Great Ormond Street Hospital meant I felt confident that guiding could work in this setting with the right adaptations.
‘My local commissioner and county inclusion adviser helped me assess the risks for running these sessions and I was grateful to receive support through Girlguiding’s accessible guiding grant to cover the costs of the additional resources I used.
‘Rosa and her family were really enthusiastic about me running the activities and the hospital staff were all really friendly and welcoming. Rosa is such a great addition to our unit team and it is wonderful to see her putting into practice her young leader skills now she’s back at unit meetings.’
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