Yachtswoman Dame Ellen MacArthur celebrates 20 years of cancer charity

Yachtswoman Dame Ellen MacArthur to helm crew of young people on race around the Isle of Wight to celebrate 20 years of the charity she founded to help young people affected by cancer

An organisation set up by yachtswoman Dame Ellen MacArthur is celebrating its 20th anniversary by entering four crews of young people into the Round the Island Race around the Isle of Wight on Saturday.

The Ellen MacArthur Cancer Trust (EMCT) was founded in 2003 to take eight to 24-year-olds on sailing trips after cancer treatment, in a bid to help them rediscover their self-worth, independence and confidence.

Since then, some 3,000 youngsters have taken part in the four-day trips off the Isle of Wight and also the seaside resort of Largs on the west coast Scotland.

Dame Ellen will take the helm during Saturday’s Round the Island Race with a crew of volunteers and young people to celebrate the EMCT’s 20th anniversary this summer

Athena Jamaranian, from Epsom, Surrey, is one of those young people who have been helped by the charity, and she will be alongside Trust founder Dame Ellen for the race this weekend.

Athena, now 21, was diagnosed with a brain tumour at the age of 12, but with the help of the Trust, she has gone from being an ill-at-ease teenager to a poised, assured and happy young woman enjoying life again.

Tentative: Athena Jamaranian, then 18, on her first trip with the Ellen MacArthur Cancer Trust

Confidence restored: Athena four years later, taken last summer on her third break with EMCT

Because while medical care ensured Athena survived her illness, it was meeting and having fun with other youngsters just like her that helped her feel she was really alive again.

‘We say “When treatment ends the Trust’s work begins”,’ explains world-record breaking yachtswoman Dame Ellen, who set up the charity. ‘Because for many young people simply picking up where they left off before their diagnosis just isn’t possible.

‘We hear it a lot, that for many young people what happens after treatment can be as difficult as, if not even more so, than the treatment itself.’

Athena had just started secondary school and turned 12 when she was diagnosed with a brain tumour in her spine nine years ago.

‘I only had my family,’ she says. ‘No one at school understood what it meant. I felt like I had to grow up quickly while everyone else was still living their childhood.’

Dame Ellen at the helm:  The Trust aims to give youngsters confidence back – and a good time

Her feelings of isolation from her peers continued after successful treatment at the Royal Marsden Hospital in Sutton, Surrey, and then proton therapy in Florida.

‘It was hard with no one knowing what I’d been through and not being able to talk about it with anyone,’ says Athena.

‘Then one of the nurses said “Have you taken part in anything with other children?” I didn’t know there was anything. She gave me a leaflet about the EMCT and said they were doing a trip in the summer.

‘I jumped at the opportunity – it sounded amazing.’

The EMCT pays for everything thanks to generous donors such as the People’s Postcode Lottery, which has given more than £4m to the EMCT in recent years.

Inspirational: The yachtswoman broke records in 2005 sailing round the world solo in 71 days

It’s so successful that many return again and again – including Athena, whose trip with the Trust this summer will be her fourth.

‘I went on my first trip as a shy girl who was scared of talking to new people and doing things I didn’t know about,’ she remembers.

‘I really did struggle. I thought people didn’t like me and didn’t want to hang out with me, and I’d cry every day with stress. But the skipper, volunteers and other young people would come and sit with me and help me overcome these thoughts.’

Soon Athena, who is about to graduate from university, began to see the benefits. ‘The trips weren’t about talking about our diagnosis and what had happened, but about being there with people we knew understood.

Young people affected by cancer and volunteers on one of the Trust’s ships 

‘I met people who’ve had legs amputated, gone blind, had an eye removed or had visible scars, all different types of people from different walks of life.

‘It was so inclusive, no one would ask questions – we just saw each other for who we were. Sometimes when you tell people you’ve had cancer, they treat you differently but we want to be everyday people.

‘On that trip around the Isle of Wight, we cooked, we slept on the boat, we had water fights – it was such an incredible experience.’

Sailing into a brighter future: The Ellen MacArthur Cancer Trust ships that will take part

Dame Ellen will accompany young people and  volunteers on the Round the Island Race

She returned in 2021 and made three friends. Last year they all went on another EMCT voyage from Largs.

‘The skipper on that trip was the same as was on my first,’ says Athena. ‘He came up to me to say I’d progressed so much, was more confident and looked much happier.

‘It was great to hear – that’s all I wanted.’

And it’s not just Athena who’s felt that way. 

‘It’s almost impossible to understand the magic of the Trust unless you see the transformation of a young person from day one to day four – it’s extraordinary,’ says Dame Ellen, who broke records in 2005 by sailing single-handed around the world in just 71 days.

‘It is truly humbling to receive letters from parents saying thank you for giving us our son or daughter back.

Fun for all: Young people and volunteers enjoy the freedom and exhilaration of being at sea

‘But sailing is just the vehicle. On the boat some magic happens. It’s not really the sailing, nor maybe even the water, but the environment that being on a boat creates.

‘Everyone gets together, they have stories to tell, they are busy, they’re cooking and cleaning and doing normal things again, often things they haven’t done since their diagnosis. It’s all a bit of an adventure.’

And it’s one Athena, who is hoping to help other youngsters by becoming a therapist or setting up her own nursery, is glad to have been on.

‘I’m now a completely different person,’ she says.

The Round the Island Race is a one-day yacht race around the Isle of Wight that about 1,200 boats take part in each year. 

To find out more about the Ellen MacArthur Cancer Trust click here. 

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