Don’t forget cancer this Christmas as Maggie's Highlands launches festive appeal
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An Inverness-based charity has launched a festive appeal to help support people with cancer from across the Highlands.
Cancer support charity Maggie’s Highlands, which is based in the grounds of Raigmore Hospital, has launched the JustGiving Christmas Appeal and organisers are hoping people will donate anything from £1 to £10 to help make a difference.
Maggie’s relies almost entirely on voluntary donations to cover the £500,000 annual running costs – the money will help support the Maggie’s Highlands Children’s Support Group as well as more than 450 people with cancer supported by the charity on a weekly basis.
One person who has benefited from the support on offer is Kate Cameron Reid who moved to Moray from London last year with her daughter Sophia, and son Jack, after losing her husband, to sarcoma aged just 34, in January 2020.
She said: “I moved to Lossiemouth following Anthony’s death and after over a year in lockdown in London. It was a place we had visited as a couple and as a family, and where we had found great peace and solace by the beach.
“We had gone through a very traumatic eight months with Anthony who at 6ft 2ins was a tall, very able, and very strong man. He was diagnosed with sarcoma and told it was incurable.
“It was all very unbelievable and very shocking between the diagnosis and the various aggressive treatments to try to help him, before losing him.”
She said she had been made to feel very welcome since moving.
Mrs Cameron Reid said Maggie’s had been a great support since she heard about the charity, adding: “Finding Maggie’s Highlands has been wonderful for our family. The kindness, love and support they have surrounded us with has been a blessing at a very difficult time.
“Myself and Sophia have been coming to Maggie’s for one-to-one and group support with the cancer support specialists and the psychologist there.
“My young son, Jack, who is four, came along at first but he is more outgoing and seemed to be coping a bit better than Sophia, who is nine.
“I’m having a lot less nightmares and I would say that Maggie’s are helping me to learn to live without my husband.
“I’m also not as anxious as I was when I first moved here. Sophia is also coping much better. She has fewer nightmares about the past and I see her looking a lot happier and laughing more.
“Even after talking about difficult topics at Maggie’s, I will ask Sophia how she feels afterwards, and she says she loves coming to Maggie’s and can’t wait to come back.
“She loves the art sessions at the Children’s Support Group and loves meeting with the other children. It’s good for them to have that shared experience.”
She said the support group had helped her daughter feel less isolated and she enjoyed being with other children who identified with her situation and empathised with her.
Seonaid Green, Maggie’s Highlands centre head, said: “Some of our centre visitors are extremely distressed, but most will leave with a smile and feel more confident about what lies ahead.”
She said the support on offer included emotional and psychological help and they could provide help with cost-of-living needs that people with cancer face and enable them to access benefits too.
“We support not just the person with cancer but friends and family members including children through our Children’s Support Groups as well,” she added.
Andrew Benjamin, the centre fundraising manager, urged people to give what they could afford to the Maggie’s Christmas Appeal.
He said: “I would urge people to give whatever they can this Christmas to support people with cancer when they need it most.
“Whether it’s £1, £3, £5 or £10 and means forfeiting your morning coffee for a week or a Secret Santa gift this Christmas, please give what you can to Maggie’s to support people with cancer and their families.”
• To donate login to Just Giving and to find out more contact 01463 706302.
