Maggie’s Cardiff is a special place for people with cancer or their families. Referrals aren’t needed.
As the manager of the Cardiff centre tells me: “We say to people that whatever it is that you need, in your own time, at the right time for you, you can just step through those doors.”
Walking through those doors in Cardiff brings you into a beautiful open-plan kitchen and seating area. Light pours into the building from the windows. Several smaller rooms with comfy sofas lead off the main space.
Sam Holiday is from Cwmbran and she invited me down for a visit as she’s passionate about telling as many people as possible that Maggie’s, located next door to Velindre Cancer Centre, is open to everyone. It’s an independent charity and not part of the NHS.
She said the approach of not giving people appointments was to give them “a bit of control back” as cancer patients find they have to be in lots of places at fixed times.
Sam explained: “This is about when they’re ready and what they need, and walking through that door helps them get a bit of control back, so that’s a key part of the Maggie’s message, just come in.”
I asked about her role: “I’m also one of the cancer support specialists and that role involves somebody that may come to the centre that may be struggling emotionally or psychologically. My role would be to have a conversation with them to see what’s the most important thing for them at that time.
“It could be that they’re struggling financially, they could be psychologically struggling with anxiety, there’s a whole host of things and sometimes people walk in not knowing what they need, but the team here are experts. I’m a nurse by background. We’ve got radiographers, radiotherapists, who are ward-trained in oncology so we’ve got that lived-cancer experience to be able to support.”
Maggie Keswick Jencks used her own experience of cancer to start the charity and the first centre opened in Edinburgh in 1996. There are now 24 across the UK.
Sam said: “Maggie was in hospital and given information that she needs to go home and get her affairs in order. She needed to be able to have that support and figure out how she can tell her children.
“She thought there must be a better way. There’s got to be a better space where, when people have been given such difficult news, how could they get that support to be able to deal with some of these emotional impacts?
“There needed to be somewhere, a space where people could just come they didn’t need an appointment. We don’t wear uniforms, the fact that we are clinically trained, but obviously the expertise is there but it’s in a slightly different way.
“It feels like a home-from-home space where you just drop in for a cup of tea but while you’re in for a cup of tea, you’re getting that expert care.
“It’s a privilege to work here. Relaxed. They just come in, that’s my biggest thing. I want as many people to know about Maggies and to able to access the support.”
I chatted with Tracey Harris, who volunteers at Maggie’s and lives in Cwmbran. She said: “It’s non-clinical so people feel much happier when they’re here. They might just want a cup of coffee and you never know what’s going to come through the door. It’s a really good extension of my working career.”
Rachael Davies, fundraising manager, said: “Everything that’s raised in South Wales comes to help the centre here. One of the things I love about it, is the fact when I come into the centre I see people who are going through a tough time because they have cancer or are caring for someone with cancer and it makes me think that what I’m doing with the fundraising to be able to keep this centre going, and Sam and the team here who do amazing things. It just reinvigorates me every day.”
In another touching Cwmbran link. The library area of Maggie’s is full of books to support and comfort people with questions and worries about cancer. This part of the centre is thanks to Remission Possible, the campaign started by Emily Clark, the Cwmbran teenager who passed away from cancer in 2016.
Note: I visited Maggie’s on World Cancer Day- Tuesday 4 February 2025- and am sorry for taking so long to write this story
Find a link to Maggie’s in the comments.