Hey everyone,
I’m Adele a Fundraising Manager for Macmillan Cancer Support. I was the lady that called Eddie the other week to say thank you. I asked Eddie if he would mind if I could share a thank you wider on the forum penned by me, so here goes…..
Macmillan is a cancer charity that has been around for over 100 years, helping and supporting people emotionally, physically, financially and many other ways. I wanted to show you how your donations help, so I would like to share with you Sam’s story.
Sam from Leeds was just 28 when he received the news no one wants to hear, he had cancer. Before being diagnosed with Hodgkins Lymphoma Sam remembers being in the shower and feeling a lump on his neck, his wife encouraged him to go to the GP, he told me:
“The lump seemed to appear out of nowhere, I wasn’t too worried I thought it would be a cyst or an allergic reaction.
“When I was diagnosed with cancer I was just thankful that the cancer I had was treatable.
“My life wasn’t going great at this point, I’d been diagnosed with cancer, lost my job and as my wife was studying, we’d lost our household income.
“It was the day after my diagnosis that I met my Macmillan nurse - she played a key role in keeping me sane during this time, she translated everything into information I could understand.
“I mentioned that two weeks prior to being diagnosed with cancer I had been made redundant, the Macmillan nurse helped me fill in some forms and within days I’d received a one off grant of £500 from Macmillan. That made so much difference.”
Macmillan support people like Sam with one off grants, these grants help towards the unexpected costs associated with cancer treatment, like increased heating bills because of the effects of chemo, new clothes as some people experience extreme weight loss or a new mattress if a person is suffering from incontinence. These are things people don’t expect and Macmillan are here to take that worry away at an already difficult time, Sam continues:
“Having cancer isn’t cheap, I couldn’t take the bus to appointments because of my lower immune system, and constantly paying for taxis was expensive.
“The money helped but the two months between starting treatment and finding out if it was working was my lowest point, my Macmillan nurses literally kept me sane when I was at my lowest, they were incredible.
“Macmillan support and reassurance meant the world to me.”
Within a month of finding the lump in his neck Sam was receiving chemotherapy treatment, within two months he was told that the treatment was working, and he was in remission from cancer.
I hear many stories like Sam’s, I feel so privileged to be working for an organisation that makes a difference to so many people in the darkest moments of their life, every single day.
Thankfully Sam has been in remission from cancer for three years, but we know many people continue to receive that life changing diagnosis every day.
There has never been a more terrifying time in recent history to receive a cancer diagnosis, with disruption and delays to treatment and fears of increased risk of becoming infected with coronavirus.
At Macmillan we’re facing a possible tsunami of demand coming towards us this autumn and winter, as the cancer system gets moving again and the backlog of delayed diagnoses begins to be dealt with. Worryingly this increased need for support would come at a time when our fundraised income has dropped significantly.
A huge 98% of Macmillan’s income is from donations, like the £32,940.62 raised on this forum and we want to thank everyone who has contributed to. It really does make a huge difference to people like Sam and many other families across the UK.
At Macmillan we’re facing the hardest year in our 109-year history. It’s no exaggeration to say Macmillan and people with cancer have never needed your generosity more than we do right now.
Take care & stay safe
Adele
xx
https://www.macmillan.org.uk/