Sense Awards 2024: Young Person of the Year
Emily Swales
Emily’s story has touched everyone at Sense. We’ve been blown away by her incredible resilience and positive attitude at a time of adversity.
Emily has had a very challenging few years, after being diagnosed with bone cancer in February 2023.
Emily, 16, has an acquired brain injury from neonatal hypoglycaemia, causing global development delay, complex epilepsy, a visual impairment, cerebral palsy and autism.
When Emily was diagnosed with a rare and aggressive bone cancer called Ewing’s Sarcoma, her parents weren’t sure how she would cope.
Emily’s parents, Caroline and Andrew, say they are extremely proud of their daughter, and that they couldn’t have dealt with all the things she has been through.
Descriptive transcript of Emily's video
Emily faces her dad and smiles as he speaks. Emily is a young teenage girl with brown hair and a leopard print dress.
Dad: Everybody’s proud here for being a brave, strong person.
There’s a white flash and Emily has sat with her mum and older brother in the living room. Her dad walks in holding a wrapped package.
Dad: Here, you’ve won the Young Person of the Year
Emily: No, I haven’t!
Dad: Hey, that’s great news.
Emily: Hey!
Dad hands over the package.
Dad: That’s the award in there. Do you want to open it? You can hold it.
Emily’s brother reaches over to help her to unwrap the package.
Brother: Do you want me to help with this bit? And you can do the rest from there. Yeah?
Emily: Yeah
Emily looks at the award in the package.
Emily: Thank you!
Emily, her parents and brother smile to the camera, holding up the award.
“You should never stop trying, never stop believing, never give up, life is for living and I intend to live mine to the full.”
Emily
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