On 17th December we had the pleasure of meeting with the children and their families, who have the misfortune of living with cancer in Northern Cyprus. It was a pleasure to join them for the festival celebrations, together with Kemal Saracoglu who organized this event.
A massive thank you to Hidden Gardens for the fabulous afternoon, and the delicious meal for the families and children that were able to join us .
It was an amazing day for us all and a great pleasure to spend with these parents and share their journeys, and also having the chance to meet all the new children.
As always we wanted to give our children something special to spend this festive season.
We presented the 17 children who were able to attend, vouchers from Lcwkiki for new outfits and Erülku supermarket for their families. And the other 33 vouchers were sent to the oncology unit where our children can pick them up when they are able to.
We are so thankful that you all continue to support with your donations and fundraising. It is only with your help that we can bring smiles to these 50 children and young adults.
Tanyel loved Christmas and we love keeping her beautiful smile shining bright .
We’re delighted to announce that we successfully completed the London to Cyprus cycle ride 23rd September to 21st October.
This has been a monumental effort by the team, and we want to say a big thank you to all our supporters and let everyone know how grateful we are.
We have been overwhelmed with the number of people who have supported us and shared our journey: donating, cheering, phoning, messaging, and just being there for us – friends and family who travelled to meet us, and the many people we chatted to and who listened to our amazing journey along the way.
Of course, everything we do is in the memory of Tanyel, the special young lady who continues to give us so much energy to help children with cancer even though she is no longer here with us. We will forever remember and keep your beautiful smile alive.
We would love to thank everyone individually but there are simply too many. Special thanks go to:
Our President of Northern Cyprus Ersin Tatar for joining us and greeting us.
Ahmet Durmush Bexley mayor – who provided massive support throughout our journey, joined us at the start line
The Metropolitan Police for supporting our cyclists from Scotland Yard to our beautiful Tanyel’s resting place.
For all the Police who escorted us in Greece, Turkiye and Northern Cyprus.
Express signs @ Ipswich Mark Nicolas for our marketing
Julie and Lis for allowing us to start at The Pavilion florist and for all the tea’s and coffees.
Walnut cafe Sidcup for the essential energy bars
Ozzie at London catering services for all the energy drinks including water and protein bars – enough for 4 weeks journey.
DFDS crossing team on our ferry ride from UK to France.
The amazing staff (Laurine, Paul and Antoine) at decathlon store in Mâcon in France for repairing the bikes after a tyre blow.
Green Pedal cycle club, for arranging and selling Tanyel’s Smile T-Shirts, collecting donations (55,750 Turkish lira which was donated to Kemal Saraçoğlu charity on our behalf for helping children with cancer at the oncology ward in Northern Cyprus) and finding sponsors in Cyprus (Aksa, BEM ,Crego Ltd,SHIPYARD) and final for organising an amazing event.
Thank you also to Velospeed cycling Tours and all the other cycling groups that joined us.
Lords palace hotel manager/staff for supporting us with drinks and allowing us to use their premises.
Acapulco resort Hotel for accommodation throughout our stay and using their facilities.
Türk Ajansı Kıbrıs (TAK) Anadolu ajansı T.vine magazine for constantly following and reporting on our journey.
To all the newspapers for their reports and TV shows.
Yedidalga folklor derneği for greeting us with flowers at the finish.
To everyone who came to greet us along the way and see us through to the finish.
Three very special people Cumhur, Havva & Katriye who picked up the bits and pieces to create a great finish
Gazi Primary School Famagusta – thank you for inviting us to speak about childhood cancer.
Girne American university – thank you for inviting us and getting to meet students and tell them our journey .
A massive thank you to Heartbeat North Cyprus for your incredibly kind £2,500 donation to get us up to our target and for your special support.
Ismail and Muhammer for support in our İstanbul stay.
Kibris worldwide for their ongoing updates and donations.
Metropolitan Police Turkish association and for Eren’s updates on social media.
Apologies if we have missed anyone but please know the kindness means a lot to us.
Ceyhun and I (Tanyel’s parents) would like to say a very special thank you to Rachel and Ryan for taking unpaid leave and leaving their family for over a month to give us all the support from start to finish.
Rachel for her journey planning throughout Europe to ensure our cyclist were taking the right route, driving our support vehicle (and putting up with me 24/7) and calculating daily mileage to achieve what we set out to do.
Ryan for the professional cyclist he is and pushing through every hurdle making sure both he and Cey finished what they started.
And all the extras along the way .
We were privileged to meet so many incredible people throughout Europe (London, UK, France, Italy, Greece, Turkiye and Cyprus) who have made this an extra special event and one that will stay with us for life.
This is a life-long challenge for us, Tanyel’s mum and dad, Ceyhun, as we continue to find the strength to bring awareness to childhood cancer and raise funds…thank you …thank you…thank you
If you would like to donate please lick on the link below.
On Saturday 23rd September 2023 my crazy husband Ceyhun Uzun and his crazier colleague Ryan Mckinlay, two Metropolitan Police Officers, will be taking on their biggest challenge by cycling from London to Cyprus. Starting from New Scotland Yard Central London at 9.00am and then past where my girls resting place is Eltham cemetery at 11.00am, to which everyone is welcome .
Thank you to the mayor of London borough of Bexley Cllr Ahmet Dourmoush who will be joining us on the day.
Ceyhun and Ryan will be cycling across Europe to Cyprus, 2,500 miles which is 4,023 Km.
Let’s wish these two officers a safe journey and good luck in raising awareness for childhood cancer and hope you reach your target.
The metropolitan Police are supporting these two guys. If anyone would like to be a sponsor please contact.
My beautiful daughter Tanyel should be celebrating her 28th birthday today.
A confident young lady who fought so hard with all her strength, courage and positivity but never made it. We lost her in January 2016, at the tender age of just 20, to childhood cancer.
Cancer doesn’t discriminate.
She was diagnosed with cancer, a rare form of Ewing’s sarcoma (bone and soft tissue), at the age of 18. I remember very clearly, as Tanyel turned to me and asked “am I going to die mummy“.
Tanyel was a very healthy and fit elite gymnast. She spent most of her childhood from the age of 6 until her teenage years training over 20 hours a week – she would finish school and then go to training, every day. This took up a lot of time,dedication and discipline. She was so mature for her age and I feel this is the discipline from her gymnastics.
She was strong , positive, full of love and a beautiful young lady who would do anything for her loved ones.
To get this diagnosis six days after her 18th birthday was unimaginable. We were told by her oncologist at the Royal Marsden teenage cancer unit that she was just one of the 11 children/young adults between the ages of 0-24 to be unlucky (now that number has risen to 13 a day). She was in remission for just 6 months but then she relapsed, and the prognosis wasn’t good .
Tanyel started getting chest pains, and we were backwards and forwards to the GP. We were always told it’s inflammation and because she is fit and young nothing serious. By the time she was diagnosed it metastasized (so she had this in other areas of her bones).
Childhood cancer is something GP’s aren’t aware of much about, and of course nor did we as her parents.
I won’t go into detail what her loss has done to me but I will say I didn’t want to live 😞My husband Ceyhun tried to keep me going , he was stronger than me mentally, and all credit to him I’m still here .
The charity Tanyel’s Smile started from here. I want everyone to know that my beautiful kind hearted precious girl lived. And we will forever be proud of her .
Tanyel’s Smile is a charity based in the UK raising money to help children and young adults age 0-24, and their families, who are diagnosed with childhood cancer and receiving treatment in Northern Cyprus.
The money we raise helps us take them out for meals with their families, give vouchers for clothing/food, buy presents, and transfer money to families who are in financial difficulties. We also grant special wishes like sending terminally ill children on holiday , and buy them anything they would want like eg. football team shirt. It’s a nonprofit charity registered with charity commission UK. We have 4 trustees and myself and husband Ceyhun Uzun . We are all volunteers.
We chose to start and run this charity for children and young adults in Cyprus because Tanyel loved spending her six weeks holiday in Cyprus.
A massive thank you to one of our ongoing supporters, Claire, who continues to put in so much effort in organizing events to raise as much funds as possible for us at Tanyel’s Smile. In June, CLRfitness and crew helped raise £285 each for two good causes.
Our special thanks to everyone who took time out from their weekend to join in this awesome two hour fitness event, also to the wonderful management and team at Make a Difference studio in Sidcup for allowing this to take place.
We are so very grateful for your continued support 🙏
We at Tanyel’s smile have had the opportunity to present our children, and their families, suffering with cancer in Northern Cyprus, vouchers they could spend at Erülku supermarket for Eid.
We have also had the chance to have lunch with our children and families at a place where Tanyel loved spending her summer holidays .
Thank you to Caner Aspava and the staff at Aspava restaurant. We had a great day and released some pink balloons in our beautiful Tanyel’s memory. Also, a big thank you to Kemal Saraçoğlu charity for keeping us informed of the children receiving treatment at the oncology ward in Lefkoşa, and also joining us for these special days.
And as always a massive thank you to our supporters who continue to support so we are able to make this happen.
A little background as to how this song was created.
A dear friend of Tanyel’s mother, for over 35 years, was living in Cyprus at the time of Tanyel’s funeral. She went to visit my parents who live opposite Aspava restaurant, a place where Tanyel loved spending her summer holidays every year.
Katriye let off some balloons at the restaurant in memory of my beautiful Tanyel, and at the time, Huseyin, the songwriter of the band Kibris Yolcuları, was there writing a song. He got emotional as he knew Tan from a very young age, and this is where this all started from. With the help and support of Caner, owner of Aspava restaurant, who absolutely adored Tan, this video was created.
There are so many special people to thank, who continue to keep Tanyel’s name alive and remember the little girl that never got a chance to live past the age of 20. Tanyel was bilingual so she loved listening to Turkish songs.Somewhere beyond this world she must be extremely proud to know how special she will always be.
There are not enough words on how thankful we are to all the people involved in the making of this, and our supporters that keep Tanyel close to their heart.
A massive thank you everyone 🙏 Aspava Restaurant Yedidalga
Tanyel’s mum and dad Ceyhun (Jay) completed the 15k run in Istanbul on 6 November 2022. It was Gulay’s first ever run and she was relived to finish in 1.59.38
“All credit to Ceyhun who continued to inspire me throughout, not leaving my side and when I thought my legs couldn’t take no more he pulled me past the finish line”.
Tanyel who although is no longer here on earth with us continues to inspire so many with the energy she left behind.
A massive thank you to all who donated and helped us raise £1,361.
You are all the reason we can keep our help for other children going through what Tan endured through her short life.
A summer event for our Children with Cancer and their families.
Tanyel’s Smile Charity was honored to work in partnership with Kemal Saraçoğlu Vakfı Ksv charity to organize a summer event for children with cancer and their families.
It was such a great day to spend with the children, their siblings and parents. It was a pleasure to be able to be in Cyprus for this special day .
We are grateful to Tangül Çağıner Children’s Aid Foundation that sponsored our children between the ages 0-12 .
Also a massive thank you to Acapulco Resort Convention SPA Hotel and for the help of Tuğba Kırgız .
