A YOUNG woman who recently battled cancer has backed calls for better mental health support for others who are fighting the disease.
Beth Clyde, 23, who is from Priesthill, was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma in the early stages of the pandemic last year.
She is taking part in the Teenage Cancer Trust campaign ‘#NotOk’ after completing her cancer treatment and finding she needed access to mental health support.
Beth says it was after she completed her treatment she began to crumble.
She said: “You’re going through something that is so taxing on your physical health.
“Sometimes you tend to forget about what is going on in your head. You need your mental health to function in every day life.
“I needed psychological support when I had actually finished treatment and I think that’s a really big chunk of time that’s forgotten about.
“Everyone kind of focuses on you getting to remission or finishing treatment and after it’s all done and over with, you’re kind of just left there and you’re left with the battle scars.
“You’ve got so much to deal with on your own.”
The charity is calling for the Scottish Government to provide funding for young cancer patients to access mental health support after their recent study revealed more than a third of young cancer patients did not feel like they had access to the support they needed.
Beth said she was in a privileged position due to the support she received and has now called on her local MSP and health secretary Humza Yousaf to ensure young cancer patients across Scotland have the same access to this support.
She said it would make a “huge” difference.
Beth added: “Knowing I had that support there when I needed it the most was so beneficial to me. Without it, I think it would have taken me a lot longer to recover from the health anxiety from going through treatment.
“I don’t think a lot of people realise how difficult life after treatment can be. It’s important that everybody understands it.”
Beth has now completed her Zoology degree at the University of Glasgow and has returned to work as a barista at Costa Coffee.
She is now encouraging people to write to their local MSP through the dedicated page on the Teenage Cancer Trust website.
The charity has also released a letter calling for politicians to back calls to put in place more support.
Liz Watt, Teenage Cancer Trust Lead Nurse in Scotland said: “There isn’t consistent access to specialist mental health support across Scotland for young people with cancer, meaning some can access that support while others who live in a different region can’t.
“Without it, there’s a risk young people’s mental health trauma will outlive their cancer diagnosis. That’s why we’re calling on the Scottish Government, alongside the other UK Governments, to keep young lives on track by ensuring this desperately needed specialist support is available from diagnosis, regardless of postcode.”
The Scottish Government has been approached for comment.
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