Oldham to get a Maggies cancer centre

How the Manchester Maggie’s Centre will look. Wonder what design they will come up with for Oldham.

CANCER patients will soon be able to access free practical, emotional and social help on their doorstep, the Chronicle can exclusively reveal today.

The breakthrough move comes after cancer-care charity Maggie’s announced plans to build a new support centre right here in Oldham.

Proposals have been officially confirmed with the announcement of a location and time-scale due soon.

Maggie’s centres offer support to those diagnosed with cancer, as well as family and friends, in a warm and welcoming environment, usually within the grounds of an NHS facility or hospital. Each centre boasts a team of qualified professionals on hand to offer a varied programme of activities, including advice about dealing with treatment, wellness courses designed to improve diet or reduce stress and practical guidance with the financial implications of cancer.

Friendly and informal chats are also available with the centre also serving as a meeting place for people to find others in a similar situation.

The annoucement follows in the footsteps of Maggie’s at The Christie in Manchester, which is currently under construction and is due to open in 2016.

Maggie’s Oldham has been made possible by the enormous generosity of the Stoller Charitable Trust, which has fully funded the new centre.

Principal donor Norman Stoller said: “Across Greater Manchester we are lucky to have the highest standard of treatment and care for cancer.

“I am proud to have helped complete the funding of Maggie’s at The Christie and also to support the building of Maggie’s Oldham, which alongside Maggie’s at The Christie in Manchester, will offer support to complement this excellent medical care and ensure that Greater Manchester is truly a world leader in cancer care.

“Supporting those who are affected by cancer is a cause close to my heart and I am very impressed by the facilities and ethos offered by Maggie’s.”

Every year, 50,000 people are diagnosed with cancer across Greater Manchester, facing tough questions, exhausting treatment and difficult emotions that can range from anxiety to loneliness and isolation.

It is anticipated that the centre will see around 10,000 visitors per year.

* EVERY Maggie’s centre follows the ideas about cancer care originally laid out by Maggie Keswick Jencks, who lived with advanced cancer for two years and was determined that people with cancer should not “lose the joy of living in the fear of dying.”

Maggie believed people needed information, stress-reducing strategies, psychological support and the opportunity to meet other people in similar circumstances in a relaxed and domestic atmosphere.

She created a blueprint for her vision in the grounds of the Western General Hospital, where she was being treated, before she died in 1995, with her idea eventually becoming a reality in November, 1996.

The charity grew from there and 18 centres are now open across the UK and abroad with several more under development or at the planning stage.

For further information about Maggie’s, visit www.maggiescentres.org.

TOMORROW: To find out more about Maggie’s, how it works and what support it offers, health correspondent Lucy Kenderdine visited the Maggie’s Centre in Nottingham. Read her report in tomorrow’s Chronicle.