Maggie’s Christmas Fair 360° virtual experience
Christmas fairs are a must Christmas activity, they are up there with Christmas movies and mince pies! Sadly, this year many markets & fairs will be closed, but Christmas isn’t cancelled! With thanks to Viaduct, Maggie’s Barts have created a Christmas Fair that isn’t to be missed!
Help us support people like Hannah and Charlie through the most difficult time of their lives.
Hannah who was recently diagnosed with stage four cancer tells us about her experience of cancer and covid.
“This year we were supposed to get married on 28 May. We got engaged last year. But the 28 May was the day I phoned my GP because I got strange symptoms. We didn’t realise that was going to be the start of a big of rollercoaster for us.
I was somebody who went at 100 miles a minute, a proper stress-head, and very interesting and absorbing job, and now – I couldn’t do anything. My whole routine had gone. I wasn’t out and about. Covid hasn’t helped…I was just sitting in this room, thinking what am I going to do?’
Hannah explained how Maggie’s have helped her come to terms with her ‘new normality’.
‘I liked my life before, and my life will never be like that again. And that takes some processing sometimes…
You meet dancing to house music one year, and then you’re lying there realising all you’re talking about is cancer.
She [Victoria, Maggie’s Centre head] was the first person I spoke to, and she said that people live with cancer like they live with diabetes, and that still sticks with me now. She was just really reassuring, having had no close experience of cancer. It’s made our year better. And it’s also helped us to re-evaluate a bit, and decide what’s important to us…
And moving yourself out of that dark place. We’ve got a new life now, and a new normality, and we have lots of fun now, still. And at one point it didn’t feel like it, and I think Maggie’s helped us get there…. Now I pop in and have a laugh with people usually, and I know Maggie’s are there if I need them, and that if I get upset Maggie’s will still be here for me. And that’s massive – it’s like a safety blanket.
We’ve been so grateful. It really has made a massive difference in our lives.
I can’t wait to get married, and go abroad next year, and I want covid to be over, and I want to be able to go shopping and to be able to sit in a
bar with my mates again. That’s what I want to do – without having to worry about it.
Charlies Story
‘Everytime we had a phone call the news just got worse and worse and worse… For me the hardest part of the year was the first weekend of Hannah’s chemotherapy. It was just a nightmare…– and she just looked so Ill.. The week after I spoke to Maggie’s for the first time and I just said, I’m scared, I think I’m watching her die.. I think I was scheduled for the half hour, I cried for the half hour, and we spoke for another half hour after that
…And she [Victoria] just helped me go through that process, and helped me understand that it was something that would make her ill, but was also saving her life.
Victoria has been brilliant. She just understood. I didn’t have any questions to be able to ask her directly, but she had answers for me..
It makes you realise that, no matter had bad things are there is still some sort of hope and you can still have a life. You don’t feel like that at some times, you feel like your life has come to an end and it has stopped. But through talking to Victoria, she was able to bring me round from that and get out of that downward spiral, and just get me on more of an even keel. I couldn’t even tell you what the conversations were, but every week it would turn me around… She’s so empathetic and understanding that you don’t feel like you’re the only person going through it, or that nobody understands.
Maggie’s have been such a massive help to us, I can’t tell you.’
Help us this Christmas to support people like Hannah and Charlie through the most difficult time of their lives. With thanks to Viaduct, Maggie’s Barts have created a Christmas Fair packed with perfect gifts, entertainment, carol singing and so much more! Our Christmas Fayre 360° virtual experience is now open and closes 20th December. Enter the fair
For more information please contact:
Vanessa Trippick – vanessa.trippick@maggiecentres.org 07557970842
For further information about Maggie’s Barts please go to
www.maggies.org/our-centres/maggies-barts/
Follow Maggie’s Barts on Facebook for the latest news and stories and tweet us www.facebook.com/maggieslondon and @maggiesbarts
About Viaduct
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About Maggie’s
- Maggie’s is a charity providing free cancer support and information in centres across the UK and online.
- Built in the grounds of NHS cancer hospitals, the centres are warm and welcoming, and are run by expert staff who help people live well with cancer.
- Maggie’s has been supporting people with cancer throughout the coronavirus crisis over the phone, email and through our online community. This support helped people 60,000 times during full lockdown.
- Maggie’s centres are open to see people by appointment and limited drop ins, for those who are visiting hospitals. This support will run alongside our ongoing phone, email and digital support.
- The first centre opened in Edinburgh in 1996. Maggie’s now has 23 centres in the UK. There are also three international centres offering Maggie’s support.
- Maggie’s is funded by voluntary donations.
- Maggie’s President is HRH The Duchess of Cornwall.
- Maggie’s Chief Executive, Laura Lee was awarded a Damehood in 2020 for her services to people with cancer.
- For more information visit maggies.org