It is now 11 years since I began writing about my cancer journey after being diagnosed with bowel cancer at the end of 2014 and having my plans to build a modest public relations and communication freelance business helping European universities thrown into disarray.
Much has changed since then, but I am still making regular, sometimes twice-weekly, trips to James Cook University Hospital in Middlesbrough to see cancer specialists – only now it is my wife Ann who is the patient.
We’re back walking along familiar hospital corridors, but at least now we know how to navigate the hospital maze, whether it is for regular appointments in the chemo day care unit or to meet Ann’s liver cancer specialist consultant, Dr Wilson, in the oncology department.
We’ve even cracked the code to finding a vacant spot in the busy hospital car park most of the time.
Sea of calm
And one place still remains a sea-of-calm amongst all the CT scans and blood tests and check-ups and discussions about how well Ann’s treatment is going and picking up new supplies of chemo tablets.
I’m talking about the former Trinity Holistic Centre, now under a more friendly and less stuffy name of Maggie’s.
It is hidden away in plain sight across the road from the spinal injury unit, just a few minutes walk from the north-entrance to the main James Cook hospital entrance.
The building has changed little in outward appearance, but it is now one of the three new centres to join the growing Maggie’s network of cancer support centres around the country. The other two are in North Wales and Northampton.
After a little persuading, Ann agreed to pop in and meet the new people running the centre, which offers the kind of emotional, practical and psychological support as well as financial advice that NHS staff just don’t have the time, or knowhow, to offer. They are busy focusing on trying to make their patients better, or at least not so ill as they journey through the different cancer treatments available to fight the disease.
Complementary therapies
Ann’s already had her first round of one of the complementary therapies on offer, having her feet massaged in her case. And she has signed-up to try some reiki, the Japanese energy healing technique aimed at reducing stress.
She felt like a new person after the foot massage and it helped to relieve some of her worry after being told the immunotherapy she’s been enduring was no longer proving effective and that she should start chemotherapy.
Ann and I have also sat down with the centre’s financial advisor, Jane Ford, for a fairly frank and matter-of-fact chat in which Jane told Ann not to be too proud to seek help. Even that conversation helped put things into perspective.
Ann has never claimed anything apart from her state pension, but her treatment is life-changing and the new chemo treatment is making her very tired. She’s lost her appetite and her taste and often has a sore mouth. Her fatigue means it takes a big effort to leave the house for anything other than hospital appointments. Even her favourite pastime – shopping – is a strain.
I know from my own experience fighting cancer a decade ago that it can be exhausting, with the need to avoid unnecessary contact, especially with people with a cold or other illness as your immune system is down.
It almost takes you back to the kind of restrictions most of us (outside Downing Street) endured during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Maggie’s centre in Middlesbrough is open 9am to 5pm, Mondays to Fridays, and is for anyone suffering, or caring for someone, with cancer.
Drop-in
You can just drop-in, or ask for an appointment. It is the ideal respite for anyone in need of somewhere quiet or in need a cuppa away from the hustle and bustle of the main James Cook hospital, which is one of the North East’s busiest.
Sometimes, it just a moment of calm that’s required when you are on the cancer journey or someone to talk to outside the clinical setting.
So whether it is the financial stress of not being able to work, or having to reduce earnings, or worry about how you are reacting to the treatment and feeling tired all the time, Maggie’s offers a safe haven in a storm and somewhere to turn for help.
A decade ago, complementary therapies, like aromatherapy, helped me get through my cancer treatment, especially when managing the post-operation side-effects of bowel cancer treatment and when the regular treatment and hospital visits stopped and you still have ongoing issues.
Writing this blog on survival tactics helped too! And we also had a bowel cancer support group, which gave a chance to chat and meet-up with the specialist nurses and others on their cancer journey.
Fill the gaps
Those regular semi-social gatherings seemed to stop during the Covid pandemic and that’s why the new Maggie’s centre will be so useful to help fill the gaps.
The Middlesbrough centre is managed by Michelle Holmes, an oncology nurse with 15 years experience. It is run with the support of the local NHS Trust, but relies on donations, and has recruited Hannah Moloney as its fund-raising manager. The newest recruit to the team is Lauren Henry, a cancer support specialist who was previously a therapeutic radiographer.
The Middlesbrough centre is the 27th to open around the UK and this year marks the 30th anniversary of the first Maggie’s opening its doors in Edinburgh in 1996.
It all began when the network’s founder Maggie Keswick Jencks decided she wanted to help people find a way to live well with cancer, after being diagnosed with cancer and finding a lack of the kind of emotional support that can help sufferers through their darkest days.
The Middlesbrough centre can be contacted by ringing 01642 449737 or emailing Maggies.middlesbrough@maggies.org or just by just popping in the next time you need to find an ocean of calm and a cuppa during your cancer journey.
Main feature photograph shows some Maggie’s Middlesbrough team, (from L-R), Lauren Henry, Michelle Holmes and Hannah Moloney in the peaceful garden
- You can read my previous Cancer-Talk blogs here – https://www.delacourcommunications.com/category/cancer/
- Also see ‘Progress in cancer survival rate stalled after 2010’ for my report for University World News on why the Labour government’s new National Cancer Plan has arrived not a moment too soon.