You are very welcome to this edition of Offair, made possible by Cancer Research UK.

September is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month.

Now this is a chance for people, charities and organisations across the world to get together

and put children's and young people's cancers in the spotlight. The progress made will be celebrated

but we'll also be discussing why there's still a long way to go. We've come a long way. Children's

cancer survival has more than doubled since the 1970s in the UK, but it's still the leading cause of death

by disease in children and young people over the age of one. And cancer in children and young

people really isn't the same as cancer in adults. So it needs a different kind of approach.

Today we're going to be speaking to Clara, who was diagnosed with cancer as a child, about her experiences and the work that Cancer Research UK does.

So Clara, you were diagnosed with blood cancer when you were four.

Can you tell us a little bit about what happened to you then?

Yeah, of course. So I was four years old, normal, happy,year-old child, had a few allergies, nothing particularly worrying.

And it got to the point when my parents started worrying a little bit about the fact I was getting some bruises and I was getting quite pale.

So they took me to the doctor, as you do, no one really suspected anything malicious or really terrible.

Did some blood tests, everything came back relatively normal, so we changed my diet.

And I went on like that for a little while.

And then nothing was improving, so they were like, maybe we should look into what's going on here a little bit deeper.

And by this point, I think the word cancer must have been brought up to my parents to prepare

them for the potential, that there was something more serious going on.

And the results came back and it was a Friday night and everything was fine.

So my parents went out to celebrate, they got a babysitter, big relief for them, my brother

and I were left at home.

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