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Eugenie and Duchess of York visit teenage cancer unit patients

The Duchess said Eugenie, 27, had taken time off work to visit the hospital.

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Sarah Ferguson (centre) and her daughter Princess Eugenie (left) talk to 16 year old Rohan Ingley

Princess Eugenie has joined her mother the Duchess of York to visit patients at a teenage cancer unit.

Sarah Ferguson and her youngest daughter visited the Teenage Cancer Trust-funded facility at Alder Hey Children’s Hospital in Liverpool to celebrate the unit’s second birthday.

The pair, who are honorary patrons of the trust, spent time speaking to teenagers who had been undergoing treatment for various types of cancer.

The Duchess said Eugenie, 27, had taken time off work to visit the hospital.

She said both Eugenie and her sister Princess Beatrice, who was unable to join them as she was in America, had been to visit teenage cancer units on their 18th birthdays.

The Duchess said: “I think it was really important in order that the girls understand what all of you young people go through and how we can help.”

Princess Eugenie said: “I think it’s so important to come here and learn.

“To come and experience that from as a teenager, when I was 18, but also to hear all the amazing things these units have done for teenagers and for the way you have outlook on your diagnoses.”

The Duchess, 57, opened the Teenage Cancer Trust’s first specialist cancer unit in 1990 and has attended almost all of the charity’s 28 new unit openings.

Addressing patients and their parents, she said: “Young adults, or sufferers from teenage cancer, it was you all who taught me so much.

“You taught me forgiveness, you taught me kindness, you taught me never to give up, courage in facing adversity.”

The Duchess of York, Sarah Ferguson and her daughter Princess Eugenie
The Duchess of York, Sarah Ferguson and her daughter Princess Eugenie (Peter Byrne/PA)

The unit, which opened on the new hospital site in 2015, includes a social space with a home cinema system, pool table, jukebox and breakfast bar.

Director of fundraising and marketing at Teenage Cancer Trust, Kate Collins, said: “It was a pleasure seeing our honorary patrons bring so much fun and positivity to the young people they met today, helping us celebrate the incredible support provided at this unit.

The Duchess of York (right) talks to Molly Hudson, 14 from Runcorn
The Duchess of York (right) talks to Molly Hudson, 14 from Runcorn (Peter Byrne/PA)

“Right now, for every young person with cancer that we reach, there’s another we can’t.

“We’re determined to change that. We urgently need to raise more funds so we can expand our team of Teenage Cancer Trust nurses so we can support all young people with cancer who need us.

“The commitment and support of our honorary patrons is so important in helping us move towards this goal.”

Louise Shepherd, chief executive of Alder Hey Children’s Hospital, said: “It was an honour to welcome the Duchess of York and HRH Princess Eugenie to join in the celebrations here at Alder Hey and meet some of our young patients.”​

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