The Christie Charity
New story published August 2022
A group of teenage and young adult (TYA) patients from The Christie had a very different experience when they turned up at the hospital for their appointment last month. Instead of passing the time before their appointments in a waiting room, the young patients were surprised by the arrival of by a group of high-end supercars.
Over 2 days in July 2022, 29 supercars arrived at The Christie to surprise our teenage and young adult patients. The high-tech vehicles, including Lamborghinis, McLarens and Rolls Royce to name a few, delighted 23 of our young patients.
TYA youth support workers were also on hand at the supercar events. The casual nature of the days meant TYA staff could chat with patients away from a clinical setting about support they can access as TYA Christie patients.
Lewis Seed is one of the patients at the TYA centre at The Christie who had the opportunity to see the supercars. Lewis said he’d always been fascinated by supercars, and that it was amazing to see them up close and look at the engines. Speaking about the day, Lewis said, “Meeting the owners was great – they were nice people who truly understood our situation and wanted to make sure we had a fun experience. Overall, I had an amazing time and hope that we can have another one soon.”
The team from Stratstone Manchester, who provided the supercars, said they were really pleased to offer support to Christie TYA patients. They said, “Stratstone Manchester are really grateful and honoured to be a part of such a special charity event day. It is so rewarding to see the smiles being put on the faces of the teenagers.
“We love working with the Trust and we will continue to support them for the foreseeable.”
Steve Harcourt, a TYA youth support coordinator at The Christie, was also pleased with how the supercar events went. He said, “Being able to provide peer support events like this is a huge part of my role – having the support of The Christie and local car owners to make this happen is fantastic.
“The number of cars that came to visit across the 2 days has been unbelievable and seeing the smiles of the young patients and their family members was so nice to see. This gave the opportunity for them to spend time away from the clinical setting and meet other young people in a more social space.”
We’re so pleased that the supercar events at The Christie have been so well received by our teenage and young adult patients. Watch this space for more supercar events – we’re planning to hold more exciting days for our young patients very soon.