When someone is diagnosed with cancer, everyone rightly rushes to support the person who is ill. There are often children in that family, and they are going through it too. They can end up being the ones no one thinks to help.
Little Ripples is here for those children, right from the point of diagnosis.
We help children and young people feel seen, supported and understood when someone close to them has cancer.
Our support is free. There is no referral and no waiting list, so families can come to us directly.
Everything we create is shaped and tested with children and families who have been through it, so our support reflects what they tell us they need, not what we assume.
Little Ripples was started by a parent who went through it. Her experience is where this began. The experiences of many other children and families are what shape it now.
A world where every child has what they need to thrive when someone close to them has cancer.
To help children and young people feel seen, supported and understood when someone close to them has cancer. We do this by making sure everyone can access the right support, information and opportunities.
Our founder, Keri, is the mother of Phoebe and Lottie. In early 2025, at just 37 years old, Keri found a lump in her breast. At the time, she was living alone with her daughters, aged nine and four, and had only recently started a new full-time job.
What began as a quiet moment of concern while sitting in a local soft play centre with friends quickly turned into a series of hospital appointments. Five days later, after a mammogram, ultrasound and biopsies, Keri was told the results were unclear and she would need to wait for further tests.
Life, however, continued as normal for her children. Like many parents, Keri returned home, collected her daughters, cooked dinner, sang songs in the kitchen and carried on with the bedtime routine, all while quietly holding the worry of what might come next.
On 19 February 2025, Keri received the news that she had stage one, grade 3 breast cancer. Her immediate thought was not for herself, but for her daughters.
"My first thought was Phoebe and Lottie. How on earth do you tell a nine-year-old and a four-year-old that mummy has cancer?"
Looking for guidance, Keri went straight to the hospital's Macmillan information centre, hoping to find clear advice on how to support her children through the diagnosis and treatment ahead. What she found was kindness and compassion, but very little structured support specifically designed for children facing a parent's cancer diagnosis.
"When you are hit with such a trauma and living the whirlwind of a cancer diagnosis, I really needed quick, clear support to help my children understand what was happening and to ensure they didn't experience this time as traumatic."
Keri went on to have surgery followed by three weeks of radiotherapy. During treatment, she also experienced how difficult it can be for parents to balance appointments with family responsibilities, with daily radiotherapy sessions often clashing with school runs and childcare.
While Keri was fortunate to have strong support from family, her children's school and a trusted childminder, she became deeply aware that many families do not have that same network.
"I was lucky. Not everyone has the support I did, and no parent should have to worry that being a parent could become a barrier to accessing treatment or support."
Keri's experience as both a mother and a cancer patient became the inspiration for Little Ripples, a charity dedicated to supporting the emotional wellbeing of children and young people when a parent or guardian is diagnosed with cancer.
Because when something as life-changing as cancer happens in a family, the ripples reach far beyond the patient.
Little Ripples is guided by a board of trustees who bring lived experience, professional expertise and a shared commitment to the families we support.
Meet the people behind Little Ripples