The story of the woman behind maggies cancer centres

Maggie's north east

Our founder Maggie Keswick Jencks used her own experience of having cancer to create a new type of cancer care. The first Maggie's opened in Edinburgh in , and we now have a network of centres across the UK and some abroad. Maggie's idea was that with the right support, "nobody would lose the joy living in the fear of dying when diagnosed with cancer".

Maggie was a writer, gardener and designer. When she was 47, Maggie was diagnosed with breast cancer and five years later, in May , on a visit to the Western General Hospital in Edinburgh, she was told that it had returned. After hearing this, Maggie and her husband Charles Jencks were moved to a windowless corridor where they were left to process the news.

They discussed the need for somewhere 'better' for people with cancer to go, outside of but nearby to the hospital. Maggie and Charles designed the blueprint for the centres together, enlisting the help of some of their friends from the architectural world. The first Maggie's opened in Edinburgh in , and we now have centres across the UK and even some abroad.

Read more about Maggie and Charles, our founders. Above all what matters is not to lose the joy of living in the fear of dying.

Maggie's centres uk

Maggie felt that her diagnosis and treatment was as hard on her family as it was on her, so she created a new type of support, a centre that could make the experience of cancer more manageable for everyone. She believed that with encouragement to become actively involved in treatment, and with the right information and support, people could change the way they live with cancer.

Maggie also wanted to bring people together in a calm and friendly space that would help them to find comfort in the experiences of others. Our centres help people to take back control when cancer turns life upside down, with professional support for anything from treatment side effects to money worries. We also have centres abroad and plan to extend our support to have 30 centres open in the UK by A view from the front line is Maggie's manifesto which outlines her idea for a new type of cancer care.