People don’t understand what cancer is about and the effect it has on families until they actually experience it for themselves.

tough,’’ 21-year-old Sam says.

‘‘People don’t understand what cancer is about and the effect it has on families until they actually experience it for themselves.’’ It wasn’t until his younger brother Matt had his own scare with lymphoma two weeks before Christmas that Sam broke down.

‘‘It was a shock and a bit upsetting but at the same time I had to get over it to help him out,’’ Sam says.

The 19-year-old was given the all-clear on Christmas Eve. ‘‘I was quite scared,’’ Matt says. ‘‘Roddy was so young when he died and it was quite hard to process because he was like a brother to us.’’

The brothers say they used