Member's statement: Cancer Fund for Children
Member's statement by Ms Diane Forsythe on .
- MLA
- Ms Diane Forsythe
- Party at the time
- Democratic Unionist Party
- Date
- 3 June 2025
- Type
- Member's statement
- Business
- Members' Statements
- Heading
- Cancer Fund for Children
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 4985690
Read the official Assembly record
Text
On Friday past, it was a privilege to sponsor the launch in Parliament Buildings of the 'Say Their Name' report by the amazing Cancer Fund for Children. It is an evaluation report on the support offered to children and young people attending residential bereavement group work programmes held at the Cancer Fund for Children's Narnia Garden cabin in the grounds of Daisy Lodge in Newcastle in my constituency of South Down. Friday's event, which was hosted by Thomas and Leah Haighton, was very powerful. Sadly, Thomas's wife, Lyndsey, passed away from cancer, and the Cancer Fund for Children supported his family throughout their journey. Lyndsey's beautiful picture sat proudly at the event, where her daughter, Leah, spoke about how the bereavement programme helped her and her brother, Lewis, to deal with their grief. Leah said that the loss of her mother at such a young age was the biggest thing that has happened in her life. I am sure that her mum would be so proud of her. Specialised programmes are needed to support people, especially young people, through those times. Sadly, that type of bereavement support does not exist across our healthcare system and has not been rolled out in our schools. The impact of accessing support on young people who are dealing with their grief has been described as "life-changing". We need to call for funding to ensure that the support remains in place in Northern Ireland. Through its informal therapeutic support model, the Cancer Fund for Children has delivered the programme to over 60 young people. The proof of its impact is shown in each of their powerful testimonies. On Friday, we also heard from Christopher Smith, whose wife, Leancha, sadly died from cancer. Against the beautiful backdrop of pictures of the family together, he spoke about how his daughter, Meabh, attended the bereavement support and how that helped them to speak about their grief as a family and keep the happy memories alive. It was very emotional to hear the stories and to feel the impact of the programme in the room, with people from across Northern Ireland, including my constituency. Sometimes we see policies and procedures set out, but there is nothing more impactful than hearing real-life stories. It is a credit to the team at the Cancer Fund for Children to have delivered the programme through Joe and Gemma and to have really made a difference to many lives. I take the opportunity to pick up on the call from Brid Carroll, who spoke about the importance of the evaluation and of the real need to ensure that bereavement support is in place in Northern Ireland, especially for young people. The programme was funded by a stream of the Department of Health charity fund, which has now stopped, but the service cannot stop. It needs to be funded to stay in place, because it is literally changing the direction of people's lives at their toughest moments. The model is in the Cancer Fund for Children to connect, nurture, understand and empower those who are managing their bereavement journey. We do not need to reinvent the wheel; we need to embed this as a core function in our health service and work in partnership with our schools. Just remember, for those who are gone: say their name.
552 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.
Assessment
Jev’s structured answers met the documented threshold for “not flagged”.
- Overall probability that the activity is being used to promote, exploit or escalate an identity-based controversy: 0.02 (flagging needs at least 0.70; at or below 0.30 is not flagged).
- None of the five culture-war criteria was met (each was below 0.60).
- Assessed as legitimate policy scrutiny (0.88).
- No identity-based framing was identified (1.00).
- The overall probability was at or below the not-flagging threshold.
This is an AI-generated assessment of the text, made against published criteria. It is not a finding of fact about the MLA or their intentions. The Assembly record itself is the fact.
Jev’s structured answers
| Question | Probability | Met? |
|---|---|---|
| Identity framing | 0.02 | No |
| Sectarian or communal antagonism | 0.01 | No |
| Cultural grievance politics | 0.01 | No |
| Dog-whistle messaging | 0.01 | No |
| Controversy escalation | 0.02 | No |
| Legitimate policy scrutiny | 0.88 | Yes |
| Overall judgement | 0.02 | At or below not-flagging threshold |
| Option | Probability |
|---|---|
| No identity-based framing (chosen) | 1.00 |
| Reports or questions it | 0.00 |
| Criticises or condemns it | 0.00 |
| Adopts it | 0.00 |
| Subject | Probability |
|---|---|
| No identity-related subject | 0.68 |
| Disability (including neurodivergence and mental health), disabled people and disability or sickness benefits | 0.18 |
| Sexism, misogyny, ageism and other equality groups | 0.07 |
| Gender, sexuality, abortion and related social issues | 0.04 |
| Flags, emblems, symbols, names and memorials | 0.01 |
Assessed 21 October 2026 at 12:45 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.
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