8
BUSINESS WOMEN SCOTLAND profiles
Maggie’s
Cancer charity Maggie’s was the vision of one woman, Maggie Keswick Jencks, but in
the 19 years since the first Maggie’s Centre opened in Edinburgh, it has been another
woman who has nurtured, encouraged and developed the programme of groundbreaking cancer care which has made the organisation globally renowned.
C
hief Executive Laura Lee, who was
once Maggie’s cancer nurse, has
never forgotten the blueprint set out by
Maggie Keswick Jencks as she lived
with advanced cancer for more than
two years.
Originally from Peterhead,
Aberdeenshire, Laura has instead ensured that those
values remain central to every aspect of Maggie’s,
even while steering the organisation on a journey of
unprecedented growth.
Today, there are 18 Centres in the UK, online and
abroad including one in Hong Kong. By the time
the organisation celebrates its 20th birthday next
November there will be 20 centres offering free
practical, emotional and social support to people with
cancer as well as their family and friends.
The 20th centre will be the eighth in Scotland and
will open in the grounds of the Forth Valley Royal
Hospital in Larbert, meaning there will be a Maggie’s
Centre offering support in every main NHS cancer
treatment hospital north of the border.
When the centre opens next year it will of course
be a reason to celebrate, but the moment will also
mark a milestone for a charity born from one woman’s
desire to help and brought to maturity by the drive,
commitment, perseverance and aspiration of another.
Laura Lee said: “I will certainly allow myself a
moment of happy reflection next year when our Forth
Valley Centre opens.
“I am incredibly proud of what has been achieved,
but I am only one person and it has been a huge
team effort.
“It has also been a lot of hard work, but I am
satisfied that Maggie would be content that we have
stayed true to her vision while also thrilled to think we
have come so far in such a short space of time.
“What I am more proud of than anything though,
and I am sure Maggie would have agreed, is the
proof that what we have created works, and that over
the last 20 years the support Maggie’s offers has had
a tremendous impact on the lives of thousands.”
When Laura first met Maggie, she was attending
an Edinburgh cancer clinic with her husband Charles.
She had just been told she had three months to live.
In the months which followed, Laura saw Maggie
once a week and spoke to her on the phone.
Laura said: “Our rapport and our friendship grew out
of that and, incredibly, she went on to live for another
two years. Of course, it was during this time that she
decided to find a way of helping others. She wanted to
know where to get help for her children, her husband
and herself and realised it was simply missing.
“Her initial plan was for a handbook outlining and
telling people how to access help.
“After a trip to America though, where she
discovered The Wellness Community and the support
they offered to people with cancer, she decided what
was needed was not a handbook but a centre.”
Together with her husband Charles, Maggie picked
out an old stable block in the grounds of Edinburgh’s
Western General Hospital as the perfect location. She
worked on the plans for the first Maggie’s Centre until
the day before she died, at the age of 53, in 1995.
Laura was left with the responsibility of carrying on
her work and in November 1996 she proudly opened
the doors of the first Maggie’s Centre. She said: “After
Maggie died, it all got incredibly scary.
“I had loads of support from her husband and
family as well as the health team I worked with, but it
Name: Laura Lee
Charity: Maggie’s
Locations: Edinburgh, Glasgow, Lanarkshire,
Fife, Dundee, Aberdeen and Inverness.
www.maggiescentres.org