A £5 MILLION campaign to build a new cancer support centre in Coventry was launched in the spectacular surroundings of Coventry cathedral.
Maggie’s Coventry, designed by leading architect Jamie Fobert CBE and landscape designer Nigel Dunnett, will be the charity’s first centre for the West Midlands and Warwickshire.
It will offer people with cancer and their family and friends vital emotional and practical support, alongside the hospital’s clinical care and treatment.
A new partnership between Maggie’s and University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust will mean that the planned centre will be built on the Walsgrave site, close to the hospital’s oncology services.
MacMillan lead cancer nurse at UHCW and Maggie’s Coventry project ambassador, Carole Bailey, said: “Maggie’s will provide the opportunity to offer a full range of facilities by complementing services already offered to cancer patients and their families/carers by the Trust. They will provide excellent support to those who are living with and beyond their diagnosis by promoting self-management, holistic care and support, and also provide a safe place where emotional, physical and social issues can be addressed.”
The special preview evening of Jamie’s Fobert’s designs for the new centre brought together a host of city dignitaries including The Lord-Lieutenant of the West Midlands, Mr John Crabtree OBE and the Deputy Lord Mayor of Coventry, Coun Ann Lucas OBE, with senior representatives from UHCW, Coventry and Warwick Universities, the council, Coventry 2021 City of Culture Trust, and the region’s business leaders.
Maggie’s Coventry is aimed to support more than 20,000 visits a year by patients when open.
Since Maggie’s opened its first centre in Edinburgh in 1996, the charity has developed a programme of support that is proven to help people with cancer and their loved ones take back control.
The charity, whose President is HRH The Duchess of Cornwall, supported 280,000 visits across its 26 centres in the UK and overseas last year.
Maggie’s relies almost entirely on voluntary donations to be able to offer this high quality, professional support.
For more information about how you can help bring a Maggie’s to Coventry, contact Coventry campaign lead, Annette Cameron: [email protected]
