Supershoes is a national charity that helps children and young people become active again after a cancer diagnosis. Its founder and CEO, Sarah White, tells us how it provides young patients with a pair of specially crafted shoes designed to encourage them to move.
Cancer treatment takes its toll on children, both physically and mentally, often leaving them too poorly to take part in normal everyday activities, such as going to school and playing or hanging out with their friends. A change in appearance and lack of peer group interaction can cause a loss of self-confidence.
Energy levels start to fall, and from the point of diagnosis, the child or young person spends a lot of time on their hospital bed, or lying on the settee at home as they recover. The whole family tends to be less active while they support the young person through their treatment. Inactivity becomes the norm, and general health suffers as a result.
However, staying active is now recognised as a vitally important part of recovery, and Supershoes helps with a unique approach to walking-based wellbeing. It’s a simple, but extremely effective way to enhance both physical and mental wellbeing and encourage mobility during the harsh, debilitating cancer treatments that are faced by hundreds of youngsters each year.
Since our inception in 2013, we have sent out over 6000 pairs to children and young people aged 0-24. Those given the gift of Supershoes often find themselves not just walking, but hopping, skipping and jumping as a result of their superpowers!
How are Supershoes created?
We work alongside Young Lives vs Cancer, whose support workers refer children directly to us. With each referral, of which there can be up to 30 a week, comes a list of a child’s favourite things, such as sports, TV programmes, pets, hobbies, or other interests. And then, the magic begins.
A pair of plain, white Converse trainers is dispatched to one of 250 ‘Super Artists’, who volunteer their time and talents for free. They set about creating a custom-painted pair of Supershoes as unique as the child who will receive them.
Our impact
We know from what parents tell us, that children receiving a pair of Supershoes want to get up and about to show them off. They often have an immediate positive effect on their mobility, as they become motivated to walk about, or even run and jump again, sometimes after a period of immobility. Some wear them to their treatment sessions, because they believe they give them ’superpowers’, whereas for other patients, they’re a talking point, helping them explain and articulate their feelings to others about what they’re going through. A pair of Supershoes represents who they are – above and beyond their treatment.
With so many referrals received each week, our work is certainly fullon. But we won’t stop. We’ll carry on bringing smiles for as long as there are youngsters in treatment for cancer.
Zahi’s Supershoes arrived, and he was so excited he enjoyed jumping around on the sofa like a Superhero before taking them for an outing to the park!
Because they are Supershoes, Noah can run really fast and jump really high in them! They’ve brightened what can be some not so bright times.
Find out more about Supershoes
From Contact magazine issue 99 - Summer 2023
