How our readers raised £50,000 for Maggie's

Published on Tuesday 6 November 2007 00:46

IT HAS been a remarkable year. Since Gordon Brown opened the stunning Maggie's Centre designed by Zaha Hadid last November in the grounds of the Victoria Hospital, Kirkcaldy, The Scotsman has been running a series of articles about the work done by the centres. Thanks to our readers, £50,000 has now been raised as a result of our campaign, and more than 2,000 readers have now signed up to give regular donations in the future.

Laura Lee, Maggie's Centre chief executive, wrote to thank The Scotsman readers, saying: "Time and again our staff witness the transformation that happens for people who come through our doors, deeply distressed by a diagnosis of cancer. They find tools and support to lead more full, happy, lives despite the challenges they face. The media partnership with The Scotsman has been invaluable in developing this work in Edinburgh and across Scotland. We hope that Maggie's have in turn provided many compelling stories for the paper on the varied issues related to our work from the role of psychological support in cancer care to cutting edge and architectural design."

At the beginning of our campaign, Lee, who was Maggie Jencks's oncology nurse, spoke to The Scotsman about the woman who was the inspiration behind Maggie's, who became determined to revolutionise cancer care after being told she had four months to live and then asked to wait in a hospital corridor. "Partly the reason we called it Maggie's Centre was because it is quite an everyday name. Maggie was unique, in that she helped get the thing started, but she didn't think of herself as unique. She was very down-to-earth, but there was a definite surge of energy when she walked into a room. I suppose you could say she was a bit of a rebel."

Maggie's Centres give advice and support to cancer sufferers and their families. There are now six centres in Scotland with one opening in London next year. There is an emphasis on beautiful, peaceful surroundings and all the services are offered free of charge. And thanks to our partnership with the charity, readers of The Scotsman have had the chance to read the inspirational stories of some of the people who help the charity, or who have been helped themselves.

Readers took a look into the diary of Shameem Farooq, the Edinburgh mother living with inoperable cancer, and met Claire Burrell, whose miracle twins were born after she went through an early menopause brought on by intensive chemotherapy.

We spoke to broadcaster Kirsty Wark about why she supported the centres, while Gordon's Brown's wife Sarah wrote an article encouraging readers to send donations. In addition, a group of leading doctors shared their views about the way the charity has transformed the experience of thousands of people affected by cancer.

Mike Gilson, the editor of The Scotsman, says: "Maggie's does fantastic work and we are delighted that our readers have responded so well - and that many of them will continue to support Maggie's on an ongoing basis."

As Charles Jencks said at the opening of the Fife Centre: "At Maggie's we are in a sense a harbinger of the future."

4 November 2006

THE Scotsman published the diary of Shameem Farooq, an Edinburgh mother of two living with inoperable cancer.

Shameem's diary shared the experience of a person going through diagnosis, treatment and then relapse.

She wrote: "It was no longer a question of trying to cure the cancer - now I had to learn to live with it. I felt that I had hardly had any time to enjoy my life."

Attending a support group run by Maggie's helped Shameem find the strength and courage to carry on.

She wrote: "The staff are brilliant, you are able to really get things off your chest. Now I'm much more open with my family. I used to try to spare their feelings, now I share how I feel. I just want my life to be regular and normal. I just want an ordinary life with a lot of special moments with my family.

"Like my doctor once said, you have to take all the rubbish out of your life and just keep the best bits.

"I'm not expecting to live to a ripe old age. But when I have one-to-one conversations with God, I say: 'I know it's a bit optimistic, maybe I'm asking for too much, but give me ten years. My kids will be older and I'll be fine with that.' I have a lot of hope and a lot of faith."

11 November 2006

SARAH Brown, the wife of the Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, wrote about her support for the Maggie's charity.

She wrote: "Maggie's Centres have come a long way since the first centre was built in the grounds of Edinburgh's Western General Hospital ten years ago.

"The opening of the Fife centre, at Victoria Hospital in Kirkcaldy, means Scotland is fortunate enough to have five centres providing psychological, emotional and practical support to the 26,000 Scots who are diagnosed with cancer each year - and the family and friends who support them.

"Anybody who has been affected by cancer - in any way - thinks that the service that Maggie's offers makes absolute sense.

"I have been privileged enough to witness for myself some of the amazing conversations that take place within these remarkable spaces - visitors often comment that they regain some control in their lives and experience a sense of a cloud being lifted after visiting a centre.

"Anybody affected by cancer knows that a diagnosis forces a person to reconsider his or her priorities and perception of life. Whenever I have visited a centre, I have been reminded how precious life is and how incredibly strong the human spirit can be."

19 June 2007

WE SPOKE to New York cartoonist Marisa Acocella Marchetto about how a diagnosis of breast cancer inspired her graphic novel, Cancer Vixen.

Marchetto, who made a full recovery from her illness, coped with chemotherapy by wearing fabulous designer clothes and pictured the cancer cells as nasty green monsters who were out to spoil her fun.

The book's cover features a self portrait with blonde hair flying, killer heels flailing, but with a look of determined outrage on her face.

"I drew that picture just after I was diagnosed," Marchetto says. "I drew myself literally kicking cancer. I had that picture pinned up on my drawing board for almost a year."

Marchetto, whose book has been a hit all over the world, believes she "literally drew myself well".

Lesley Howells, consultant psychologist at Maggie's Centre Dundee, says using humour to deal with difficulties could be very therapeutic.

"It surprises some people, but there is a lot of laughter in here. People use a lot of black humour to cope with the situation they are facing."

She says Marchetto had created a "fantastic tool" for women with cancer.

"The fiery, foxy element of it is brilliant. People have different approaches to exploring their emotions, but she's given an example of somebody who takes control."

29 January 2007

WE PUBLISHED the story of Claire Burrell, who was diagnosed with Hodgkin's Lymphoma at the age of 24. After the initial treatment she suffered a relapse and was diagnosed with a virulent form of the disease which required the strongest form of chemotherapy.

A chance meeting at a support group with a woman who had undergone the same treatment inspired Claire to delay the treatment so doctors could harvest her eggs and create and freeze embryos. "It was an absolute whirlwind at the time. It was all so fast and the hormone lurches meant I was crying all the time. But it was my priority at the time. I was very determined to do it."

Five years after the treatment, which sent her into a premature menopause, Claire decided it was time to start a family. After the second bout of IVF she was told she was expecting twins.

Sean and Euan are now two years old: "I just get on with things. From day to day I don't think about how lucky I am. For me it's just normality. When they were born people started asking things like: 'Do twins run in the family?' I would tell them the story and people say: 'That's amazing', and I realised things like this don't happen to everyone."

17 February 2007

SHE is one of the busiest and most high-profile women in Scotland, but Kirsty Wark still finds time to make home made banana bread for Maggie's.

The broadcaster decided to get involved after her father James was diagnosed with cancer.

"You are all at sea when someone who is close to you has cancer and you need to know what is the best thing to do for them. When it happens, people become experts in a very short time. You have to find out about treatments, about drugs, about diet.

"Even for those in the position of being a relative of someone with cancer, there's a paradigm shift in your life. You're left thinking: 'I need to know how I can help.'"

Having a cancer scare of her own helped her appreciate Maggie's Centres even more: "It was nothing - everything was fine. But it shows you your surroundings do matter. We started off in the most depressing waiting room and then ended up in this dark, dusty corridor. I'm not saying beautiful surroundings are a panacea, but the whole thing is that the quality of the space and the atmosphere matters. Tranquillity and privacy are important. And Maggie's services are all offered free of charge - and no-one is ever turned away. These things are very important."

5 February 2007

JOHN Wilson, a consultant physician, Victoria Hospital Fife: "I think Maggie's complements what the hospital does, but it is also very different. The hospital focus is very much on tasks, whereas Maggie's is about starting from the point of view of the patient and responding to their situation. It's non-physical: you could almost say spiritual. Probably the best way to describe it is that it's about heart."

Alastair Thompson, a surgical oncology professor, Dundee University: "Maggie's Centres are one of the best advances we have had in cancer care in many years. Any support people can give them is extremely worthwhile."

Alan Rodger, the director of the Beatson Oncology Centre, Glasgow: "Seeing middle-aged Scottish men sitting around talking about their health and supporting each other made me think, 'There's an atmosphere here that works. There is really something different going on here.'"

Mike Dixon, a consultant surgeon in Edinburgh, said: "We as doctors help carry a really heavy burden for a short while and we are very aware of patients' needs and emotions, but we spend a lot of our time trying to keep people alive.

"One of the great things about Maggie's is it allows us to concentrate on what we do best."