jimmyteenstv.com » Press & promotion

Press & promotion

Project Outline:

A Project undertaken at the Teenage Cancer Trust Unit, along with additional funding for some areas.
The project was developed with the following aims:

To be an ongoing activity/project for the young people on the unit who were having treatment.
To develop a website that could be accessed by any young person going through similar experiences, giving them the opportunity to communicate and share their stories.
Some regions have also released their films on DVD.

The Director/Project Leader

After the success of Mark Wilkinsons documentary ‘To Courtney With Love’ for BBC 1, Cat Austin (activity’s co-ordinate for Jimmys TCT ward) Sue Morgan (Leeds Teenage and young adult nurse specialist), and Mark had the idea to give out cameras to young patients on ward 10t so they could make their own video diary, animation, whatever they wanted as long as it was something creative and had something to do with their cancer journey. The films would then go onto a DVD for newly diagnosed patients on the ward. The films were then put up on a web site, jimmyteenstv.com was born. This was all funded by Candlelighters, a local cancer charity. Christie’s Young Oncology Unit in Manchester heard about the project and also produced a DVD called ‘Keeping It Real Through Cancer’, and added their films to the site.

Support

It wasn’t long before the Teenage Cancer Trust realised the potential for the project and gave their support to the project to go all over the UK, and is now its main sponsor and partner.

Candlelighters was the Leeds’ based charity that allowed jimmyteenstv to get off the ground. They now sponsor the Leeds based films on the website.

Website Design

Tom de Bruin is now in remission after treatment for Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. Following his referral to the Teenage and Young Adult Cancer Service, based on the TCTU in Leeds, he soon became very interested in the project. As a young person with web-design experience, he became actively involved and has developed, and is now running, the web-site. He will continue to be involved in the long term aims of the project.

Project Description

All young people attached to the ward (including out-patients) were briefed about the project and then invited to contribute. This could be either by film - documentary or fiction, or by animation.
The young people were encouraged, with the support of the team, to produce pieces of work that reflected their experiences. If they chose to make a film or animation they received full support to engage in as much of the process as they wished, even if this meant carrying out the process from their hospital bed.
Productivity and interest in the project by the young people has been enormous. To date over 200 pieces of work have been completed, varying from very moving and personal documentary-style video diaries, to a series of animations.

Benefit to the Young People

On a practical level the project has filled many hours for the young people, which may otherwise have been boring. It has also allowed the young people to learn and develop skills in film making, and animation, that they may not otherwise have had the opportunity to access.
On an emotional level, it has given some of the young people an opportunity to share their thoughts/worries/feelings in a safe way. Added to this is that having the chance to pass on some of their experiences and knowledge to other young people about to embark on a similar journey has been for them, a cathartic experience.

The finished project has given the young people a sense of pride in their achievements.

Here is a medly of various films to give you taster of what is available on the site.