FOR parents such as Andrea Thompson, the opening of a new teenage cancer unit in the region in a few weeks’ time will be a bitter-sweet moment.

Mrs Thompson and her family helped raise £250,000 towards the new teenage cancer trust unit at the revamped Royal Victoria Infirmary (RVI), in Newcastle, in memory of her 15-yearold son, Jordan, who died of leukaemia in 2007.

The total raised in the North-East and Cumbria since the appeal was launched two years ago now stands at £1.5m – very close to the £1.7m target.

The ten-bed inpatient unit in the new wing of the RVI will take its first teenage cancer patient very shortly.

The airy, spacious and wellequipped unit, decorated in white, purple and lime green, is twice the size of the original teenage treatment centre and boasts everything from a digital jukebox to chill-out rooms where teenagers can forget their illness for a while.

Yesterday, Mrs Thompson and former teenage cancer patients treated at the old unit got the chance to look around the spacious new “home from home”.

Mrs Thompson, whose family and friends organised two coast-to-coast bike rides and countless other sponsored events across the region, said it was her son’s wish that the family carry on fundraising so that teenagers in the region would have the same chance to be treated on a teenage cancer unit as he did.

“Nothing will bring him back, but I know that he would be so proud to see that we have helped make his wishes come true,” said Mrs Thompson, of West Denton, Newcastle.

“He looked forward to coming to the teenage cancer unit.

He made so many friends and he had such a great bond with the staff,” she added.

One of Jordan’s friends, Melissa Cavanagh, 19, from Sunderland, who was treated at the centre for Hodgkins lymphoma, said the new unit was “absolutely amazing”

and praised the people of the North-East for getting behind the fundraising appeal.

Simon Davies, chief executive of the teenage cancer trust, said the charity has now opened 17 units in different parts of the UK.

The Tyneside unit boasts large private bedrooms, equipped with adjustable lighting, bedside TV and internet access and a spare bed.