Maggie’s vision still inspires after 15 years of caring

With figures now predicting one in three Scots will develop cancer at some point in their lives, it is a bombshell set to hit a growing number of us.

But 15 years ago today, a pioneering new service for patients and their families facing up to a cancer diagnosis started bringing new hope to those who thought there was none.

Maggie’s Cancer Caring Centre at Edinburgh’s Western General Hospital began as the vision of one woman – breast cancer patient Maggie Keswick Jencks.

Now, thanks to an army of people inspired by her wish to help patients live their lives to the full despite their diagnosis, Maggie’s have 15 centres open or in development.

But as the charity marks how far they have come with their anniversary celebrations today, they have a firm eye on the future and their wish to help the many more thousands of cancer patients in need with their unique brand of support.

The Scotsman and Scotland on Sunday are joining Maggie’s for our annual fund-raising campaign, asking readers to help make sure the charity can continue its important work and grow further.

We spoke to Laura Lee, Maggie’s chief executive, about how the charity has progressed, the challenges they face from growing numbers needing their help and why the care they provide is so essential.

Ms Lee, who nursed Ms Jencks during her treatment, said they had been on an “incredible journey” since the idea first came to her while sitting for long hours in gloomy hospital waiting rooms.

“It has been an amazing journey after knowing Maggie and being her nurse and hearing about what she felt she would have liked alongside her while she was having her cancer care,” she said.

“We went from the point of not knowing if the first centre would happen, to building work starting and me moving jobs. We opened the centre with the thought in mind that this was a pilot to see if it would work and people would use it.

“In 15 years, we have had the opportunity to help make more places available for people with cancer and to see the large numbers of people who have come in.”

Ms Jencks, a landscape designer, wanted to create an attractive and homely building where those affected by cancer could meet, talk and get support to help them live life and not be overcome by their disease.

Sadly, she never lived to see the first such centre which would carry her name open in a converted stable block near the Western, succumbing to the disease a year earlier.

Ms Lee still remembers vividly what that first day was like, though with sadness that Ms Jencks was not there to witness it herself.

“It was one of the strangest experiences to me, because some of the first folks to come through the door were people I had previously known in my job as a clinical nurse specialist in the breast chemotherapy centre,” she said. “They used language like they felt they were being ‘hugged’ by the building and told me about things going on in their lives and challenges they were facing that they hadn’t told me in the previous time they had known me in the cancer centre.

“I knew this environment, this different space, being on the hospital site but slightly independent of it, was going to be helpful to people and complement what was happening, but was different to what they were experiencing in the hospital.”

Ms Lee also still holds fond memories of the woman whose vision inspired centres which last year saw almost 80,000 visits in total, helping people face their cancer with greater confidence and support.

“She was thoughtful and a listener. She sat patiently for hours in the waiting area along with other people. She would sometimes use that time to nip along and have a walk around the Botanic Garden just to get away from the internal waiting space with no views,” she said.

“But she spent a lot of her time just talking to other patients about their experiences.

“She drew on her experiences to think about how she could make it better for her and her family, but for fellow patients as well.”

Ms Lee is also clear about what she thinks Maggie’s provides for patients which was not there before. With hospitals concentrating on the important business of fighting the cancer, she said Maggie’s was somewhere people could deal with all the other ways cancer was affecting their lives.

“It gives people a place for themselves where they can share the fears and worries and anger sometimes, and sorrows of what they are going through and what they are living with,” Ms Lee said.

“This is quite difficult to do in the hospital where you know people are busy and rushed. You don’t want to potentially let your doctor or nurse think that you’re not coping. You want them to be giving you the treatment that you need.”

The charity now wants to work as hard as possible to make sure its current centres are providing what patients need, as well as looking to open more centres across the UK in future.

And they also want to do more to encourage more men to use the centres – currently less than 30 per cent of users are men. “It is about letting men come to all-men groups and developing more of the educational courses where men can talk about their thoughts and feelings just like women,” she said.

But like all charities, Maggie’s faces a difficult future as donations to good causes drop in line with fears about the financial climate.

Ms Lee said: “We have to be very respectful of the fact that people are experiencing tougher times in today’s economy and that there is no question that if people were able to give us more money we would be able to provide more support in our centres. We have to be mindful of that challenge, but if people are able to give something we will use that money very wisely and very carefully to help more people affected by cancer.”

HOW TO DONATE

Maggie’s Cancer Centres are celebrating their 15th birthday. The first centre opened in Edinburgh in 1996 and there are now 15 beautifully designed centres either established or in development across the UK. From the Highlands to London, Maggie’s help thousands of people find clarity and calmness in the isolation of their cancer journey through a bespoke and specialised programme. Help celebrate their 15th year and support the care that helps thousands of Scots:

TEXT: Donate a one-off gift of £1.50 by texting MAGG15 to 70070

PHONE: 0300 123 1801 and quote Scotsman Christmas Appeal

ONLINE: visit www.maggiescentres.org/scotsmanappeal