“Project Hope” is a program that aims to provide a unique sailing adventure for young cancer survivors, which has been clinically proven to have a significant impact on their confidence and outlook. By going on this adventure, they will have the opportunity to restart their lives, build their confidence, make friends with others who have had similar experiences, rediscover their independence, and learn new skills.
This was the idea we had in 2023. It’s a bit of a longer story.
On a trip to Europe we read about Leman Hope in the Swiss “Skippers” magazine.
Leman Hope is an organization in Switzerland that takes young cancer survivors on four day sailing adventures. The initiative is not only inspiring but also has proven clinical benefits that enhance the health and well-being of the participants, as well as that of their families.
As we are sailing, scouting and working in the medical and biotech fields, this resonated with us and we thought we could try organising a pilot for a programme in Melbourne / Australia.
Instead of starting from scratch, we reached out to Leman Hope and had the privilege of spending a generous amount of time with their project manager, supporters, and a clinician who shared their stories, impressions, and experiences. We learned that Leman Hope modelled their programme after the UK’s Ellen MacArthur Cancer Trust Sailing programme, who also shared nearly all required information without hesitation.
Based on this we created (or rather adopted) the concept – named it “Project Hope” for starters – and summarised it in a one-pager:
“Project Hope” will provide a bespoke sailing adventure for young cancer survivors, which has been clinically proven to have a significant impact on their confidence and outlook. Through this adventure, they get a true restart to their lives, building confidence, making friends with others who have had similar experiences, rediscovering independence, and learning new skills.
Our program helps them feel more positive about getting back into education or employment, reconnecting with their friends and families, and reestablishing their place in the world. The project aims to create such an experience for young cancer survivors in Australia by building on the expertise and data of the Ellen MacArthur Cancer Trust in the UK and Leman Hope in Switzerland, who have pioneered the approach and see life-changing outcomes for their young participants.
We are currently in the initial phase of scoping out the necessary requirements and support to realise a first pilot programme for 2025. In the long term, our goal for “Project Hope” is to become self-sufficient, likely as a registered charity relying on private and corporate donations to sustain the programme on an ongoing basis. But already today, you could support the project in the early phases by donating your time (and possibly money), offering specific relevant skills through volunteering, providing advice on medical care and considerations of participants, providing a sailing yacht for 4-6 days, or introducing us to people who may be able to help.
It is the end of 2024 now – where is “Project Hope” at?
Well, we concluded it is in the “too big” basket (for us). We didn’t get traction with the people we spoke to (or tried to speak to) and we ran out of time (and money) to pursue it further.
We had long calls with the team behind Leman Hope, we studied the Ellen MacArthur Cancer Trust, particularly their standard operating procedures (SOPs) (which we think could be easily transferred to the Australian setting), we reached out to a few doctors, the main cancer hospitals and their patient groups, and key people in our Sea Scouts network. While the doctors thought it was a worthwhile idea to pursue potentially, it turned out that paediatric care is more complex than we expected (including age cut-offs, at which care changes from one hospital to the next), and we didn’t get any traction with or referrals from the patient group leaders or other organisations that we spend time with (which is not surprising as they are entirely volunteer-run and already struggle to get their normal work done – and this is a big struggle). Therefore, after spending significant time on “Project Hope”, we have put it in the drawer for another time, and quite possibly for someone else.
In addition, we realised there is already more value in what we are doing than we were initially aware of. And we have used our spare time doing more of what we already did – taking youth of all age groups (and ourselves) on sailing adventures. Over the year we had many remarkable moments, but the trip to the Governor General’s Camp stood out especially. As part of that, we took youth from all over Australia sailing for a couple of hours each day, often for their first time. This turned out to be as remarkable for some of them as it was for us: “Dude, this was the best day of my life” came as a surprise to us, hearing it from a severely shivering young sailor who capsized at least three times (on purpose or not). Then, weeks later, we also received an email from a parent thanking us and two of our scouts for coaching their daughter on their boat to one of her biggest life achievements so far. Therefore, we think we just keep on doing what we’re doing.
Where to for “Project Hope”?
It is very unlikely that we will continue working on this idea. However, we wanted to share it since we have already invested some time and effort into it. We hope that the next time someone searches for “sailing for young cancer survivors in Australia,” they will find a bit more information than we did. When we began our research about a year ago, we came across several excellent projects for youth cancer survivors, but none offered activities that lasted four days, which we believe is important.
Cruising Yacht Club of Australia – Sydney: https://cyca.com.au/the-tide-is-turning-for-kids-with-cancer/
Sandringham Yacht Club – Melbourne https://www.challenge.org.au/program/sandringham-yacht-club-family-sailing-day/
Royal Perth Yacht Club – Camp Quality https://www.rpyc.com.au/on-the-water/camp-quality/
There is also impressive work done as part of the Sailability programme at the Boatshed https://www.theboatshed.net.au/sailability on Albert Park Lake. Additionally, the Making Waves Foundation https://makingwaves.au , based in Sydney, offers sailing programs for young people with disabilities (or who find themselves disadvantaged in other ways) across Australia. Making Waves could also be an excellent organisation to contact for anyone interested in pursuing this idea further.