“Never lose the joy of living in the fear of dying” - Maggie
Keswick Jencks
I’m always looking for new
things to write about here on my random wee blog, so when my friend Kathryn
asked me to come along to a Dundee Face of Freedom 2014 meeting at the Maggie’s
Centre on Tuesday night, I jumped at the chance.
Despite having no idea
what the meeting was about, and having only 50 minutes to get the kids’ tea
ready, thrust the nappy and PJs into my husband’s arms (not his I might add…)
and get out the door, I was really looking forward to it.
I already knew a bit about
the Dundee Face of Freedom competition; in a nutshell, Freedom Hairdressing runs an
event every year to find Dundee’s newest ‘Face of Freedom’, whilst raising
money for the Maggie’s Centre in Dundee.
You can read a wee bit more about the competition here - https://www.facebook.com/freedom.hairdressing?fref=ts
Some of the Face of Freedom models…
But as far as the Maggie’s
Centre goes, I have to admit, I was pretty ignorant. I knew that there were centres across
Scotland, and I knew that it was some sort of ‘meeting place’ for cancer
patients and their families. But there, I’m
ashamed to say, my knowledge ended.
I arrived (late, as usual)
at the centre, nestled amongst the trees in the grounds of Ninewell’s Hospital,
and was immediately taken aback by the beauty of the building. Despite it being pitch black, and once I’d
gotten over the fright of the silhouette of a large statue of a man in my car
headlights (more about him later), I couldn’t help but notice the calmness of
the place.
The wind was howling as I
approached the stunning cottage-style building, but once inside, I felt like
I’d really come in from the cold; and the warmth I felt was more than just the
central heating…
Maggie’s Dundee
Designed by Frank Gehry
and opened in 2003, the Maggie’s Centre Dundee provides ‘practical, emotional
and social support for people with cancer and their family and friends’, and it
is a remarkable building. I tiptoed
through to where I could hear voices.
A small group gathered
around a large kitchen table, and the huge windows behind them framed what is,
in my opinion, one of the best views in the world; the view over the River Tay
(nothing to do with the fact that this was the same view I had from the window
of the room in which I spent the first few hours with my beautiful daughter
after she was born at Ninewells…).
I sat down quietly as
everyone listened intently to Valerie Busher, Fundraising Manager at Maggie’s
Dundee, talk about the centre, and about her own personal experiences with
cancer.
Valerie Busher, Fundraising Manager, talks to some of Maggie’s
Models…
Now, perhaps it was the honesty
and humility of her words; the wind howling outside; the overpowering but
unassuming aura of the building; the fact that I’d just had the fright of my
life at a huge statue appearing in front of me in the dark; the enormity of how
important the centre is to so many people; or maybe it was that I too have my
own personal, and still very raw experience of losing someone to cancer, but
sitting there in the bright kitchen, I felt a sudden rush of emotion. I wanted to cry. I did cry.
I tried to take notes as
Valerie talked calmly about how she lost her husband to cancer when her son was
only 6 years old. And about how she
wished, for her husband’s sake, that there had been a place such as Maggie’s
when he needed someone to talk to. But
for him, it was all too late.
I say I tried to take
notes, because unfortunately my inky scrawls
aren’t legible; I was too overcome with emotion to actually write
sensibly. But I’ll never forget her
story.
I did manage to find out
quite a lot about the centre though -
- there are Maggie’s centres all across the UK, a new centre recently opened in Hong Kong, and a centre planned for Barcelona in the very near future;
- Maggie’s Dundee has around 17,000 visits every year;
- there are a host
of cancer support specialists, psychologists, advisors and counsellors available
for patients and their families and friends to talk to - https://www.maggiescentres.org/our-centres/maggies-dundee/meet-the-team/
;
- on average, each Maggie’s Centre needs approx. £450,000 per year to run;
- they receive no money from the government, and couldn’t exist without community funding and donations.
I also discovered that my
mystery man in the car-park was a statue by the very well-known artist, Antony
Gormley (probably most famous for his ‘Angel of the North’). A local family, whose daughter had spent time
at Maggie’s Dundee, raised £75,000 and went to Gormley to ask him to create a
statue for the centre. Gormley was so
moved by their story that he donated the statue for free, allowing the family
to give the money to Maggie’s.
We had a walk around the bright
and airy rooms; the ‘living room’, with its comfy sofas, thick, warm rugs and
beautiful art on the walls (there’s even a Grayson Perry in there!!!).
The cosy ‘Living Room’…
The library, full of leaflets, books and other information, which cancer patients and their families may need.
The library…
The ‘quiet room’ upstairs,
where an enormous, brightly-coloured tapestry fills the wall, and the fireplace
adds to the feeling of warmth and homeliness.
The cosy, upstairs room…
There are also three private
rooms downstairs for those who have perhaps received bad news, and need a
little time with their thoughts and their loved ones.
As I wandered around the
centre, I felt so many emotions. My own
sadness at losing someone close to me; warmth and heartfelt gratitude towards
the amazing people who spend their time making sure others are comfortable;
amazement at the amount of fundraising needed to make this place work; and that
humbling feeling you get when you realise you’ve spent your day complaining
about the tiniest of issues, and then you realise that nothing is more
important than the gift of life.
There’s so much more I
could write about Maggie’s Centre.
Like the Winston’s Wish memory
boxes they help people to produce, for when there isn’t such a happy ending - http://www.winstonswish.org.uk/
Like the beauty nights
they hold, where 10-12 women going through treatment are invited along to a ‘pampering’
session; beauty therapists and make-up artists give up their time, free of
charge, to spend time with the women, giving them tips on how to ‘draw-on’
their eyebrows, and generally making them feel as ‘normal’ as possible.
Like the maze in the
garden, the fundraising events, the support, the friendships… The list is
endless.
But unfortunately, so is
their need for funds.
With no government
funding, the Centre’s rely solely on fundraising and donations. This is where Dundee Face of Freedom 2014 comes in.
This year’s Face of
Freedom event takes place at the Gardyne Theatre on Sunday 16th
March, raising money for the centre, as well as raising awareness of
this fantastic resource.
Tickets are available here
- https://www.dundeebox.co.uk/online/default.asp?doWork::WScontent::loadArticle=Load&BOparam::WScontent::loadArticle::article_id=B1E69C15-F0E1-43B4-9D8A-9477F6FAC0CA
I can’t seem to get my
visit to Maggie’s out of my head. It
seems to have drawn me in to its warm family and I want to give it as much
support as it gives to so many people.
Valerie told us that at
Maggie’s, they don’t pretend that everything will be ok. They don’t pretend to have all the
answers. They just provide somewhere to
feel ‘normal’ again.
There’s nothing ‘normal’
about the Maggie’s Centre. It is a truly
extraordinary place.
“Never lose the joy of living in the fear of dying” - Maggie
Keswick Jencks
Please help to raise
awareness and money for this essential resource.
