SUSSEX WOMAN WHO BEAT BREAST CANCER SENDS OUT THOUSANDS OF GIFT BOXES TO HELP PATIENTS IN PANDEMIC

A West Sussex business owner who survived breast cancer has helped bring comfort and support to cancer patients during the last year – with more than 45,000 boxes sent out.

Anikka Burton, 43, from Scaynes Hill, founded Not Another Bunch of Flowers in 2013 providing a personalised gift box service to people all over the UK and the world since – though the business has seen big changes during the pandemic.

“The past year has been the most awful time for cancer patients due to Covid,” Anikka said, “I know how lonely a cancer diagnosis can make you feel, let alone in the middle of a pandemic. They have been completely isolated and unable to see friends and family due to having to shield.

“Treatments and surgery may have been stopped or postponed, causing extreme anxiety, and they are unable to have experiences and ‘live life’ at a time that they are being brutally reminded how short life can be.”

At the start of lockdown, Anikka said that the business was sending a lot of care packages loved ones who were forced apart and not sure when they would see each other again. It was an incredibly worrying time, particularly for those who were unwell or alone.

“The demand was incredible. We had challenges because of our small office and we had to work weekends and extra hours to cope,” she said, “Customers were sending care packages to loved ones, key workers, people with serious illnesses (including covid) and older family members, to send love, best wishes and messages of hope to people they could no longer visit in person.

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Description automatically generated”Our gifts are hand-picked to bring a little sunshine to people’s days. We even created specific lockdown and homeschool survival boxes complete with treats such as edible treats, pampering products and a stiff drink – just to make the period easier on the people who were most isolated.”

Throughout the pandemic and the multiple lockdowns, cancer patients were told to shield – some told not to even enter their gardens.

“These people were stuck and told only to go out for medical appointments,” Anikka said, “They didn’t have a support network at this time, so we started working with the Willow Foundation – a charity who ordinarily organise special days to create memories for seriously ill young adults.

“As these special days were on hold, we worked closely with the charity to send thousands of care packages to young adults in palliative and end-of-life care. The feedback has been incredible and we’re honoured to be able to help in a tiny way. We are still sending care packages on a weekly basis, but hope that the special days will be able to resume soon.”