Significant funds raised by the thousands of Power Walkers who pound the streets of Edinburgh each June, will be granted to Maggie’s by Walk the Walk to help towards the cost of the new £2.1 million building.

Maggie’s at Gartnavel Hospital will be built close to the new oncology department, The Beatson, helping to provide near by support for thousands of cancer patients who visit the hospital each year. The new centre will provide patients and their families from across the West of Scotland with the best cancer care information alongside practical, emotional and psychological support. The Beatson serves a population of 2.7 million and will see 8,000 new patients a year and administer more than 20,000 courses of chemotherapy.

Following on from the success of the first Maggie’s Centre in Glasgow, The Gatehouse, built five years ago, the new site at Gartnavel will hugely boost the cancer care support available for people across the West of Scotland. With The Gatehouse seeing 12,000 visits in 2007 alone and a 60% increase in visitor numbers over the last two years, Maggie’s Gartnavel Centre will be welcomed as good news to cancer patients and NHS professionals.

Nina Barough, Chief Executive and Founder of Walk the Walk comments: “I’m delighted that Walk the Walk and Maggie’s will be working together on this much needed second Centre in Glasgow. Glasgow city has the highest incidence of cancer of any local council area in Scotland and with the increasing visitor numbers at The Gatehouse, a second Centre is vital and will provide thousands more with exceptional cancer care. Walk the Walk really want to improve the quality of life for cancer patients in Scotland and have already been able to help Glasgow in other ways, in 2007 we granted funds to Gartnavel for six Scalp Coolers. A huge hug and thanks should go to all those that have taken part in The MoonWalk Edinburgh, without their fantastic support over the past two years and their future support, this grant would not be possible.”

Jonathan Best, Director of Regional Services, comments: "We welcome Maggie's to our Gartnavel site and are delighted that Walk the Walk has agreed to help fund the building of a new Maggie's Centre, so that vital emotional and psychological support can be easily accessible to the large number of patients that access our services."
 
Maggie’s CEO, Laura Lee adds: “Maggie’s Gartnavel Centre will be very important for people living with cancer and their family and friends because of its accessibility to oncology services at The Beatson. We are delighted to be supporting 12,000 visits a year in Glasgow but we know with the addition of Maggie's Gartnavel we can do so much more. Thank you to Walk the Walk Worldwide for this crucial funding.”
 
Rem Koolhaas, internationally respected architect and former teacher of Zaha Hadid, will be designing the new Maggie’s Centre at Gartnavel.

Glasgow will be the first city to benefit from a second Maggie's Centre.

Walk the Walk is also helping fund the development of Maggie’s online community support which will see thousands of new people gaining access to virtual information and psychological support from their own homes. First phase of the online community project will launch in spring 2008.  

Isobel Rutter has had cancer and visits Maggie’s:

“I have received so much support from Maggie's Gatehouse and know that having an additional Centre at Gartnavel will mean even more opportunity for me, my family and others like us to get the emotional support we need to complement our physical treatment.  Benefits advice, a cup of tea, a relaxation session or time with a psychologist are all available under one roof at Maggie's and it feels like a home from home, away from the bustle of the hospital corridor'.  

For further press information please call Alice Waters at KTB PR on 020 7924 7214 or email alice@ktbpr.com


Notes to Editor

About Walk the Walk
•    Nina Barough, Founder and Chief Executive set up and now runs the grant making, health charity Walk the Walk Worldwide
•    Walk the Walk organises the The Playtex MoonWalk, The MoonWalk Edinburgh and The SunWalk in Bristol and Newcastle, as well as coordinating teams of women all over the world to Power Walk marathons in their bras
•    To date the charity has raised in excess of £35million for breast cancer causes, with The Edinburgh MoonWalk 2006 and 2007 raising nearly £4 million to date with money still coming in
•    HRH Prince Charles is the Official Patron of Walk the Walk Worldwide
•    For more information on Walk the Walk Worldwide, go to www.walkthewalk.org or write to Walk the Walk Worldwide, Brook House, 88-100 Chertsey Road, Woking, Surrey, GU21 5BJ
•    Walk the Walk has raised over £35million to date for vital breast cancer causes  

About Maggie’s
A Maggie’s Centre is a welcoming, friendly and non-institutional place, adjacent to a cancer treatment hospital, which provides support for people with any kind of cancer, their families, friends and carers. Maggie’s supports people from the moment they ask for help, free of charge, and unconditionally for as long as they wish.

Maggie's Centres are the vision of our founder, Maggie Keswick Jencks, who was herself a cancer patient, was to provide a ‘home from home’ environment alongside major cancer treatment hospitals, where patients and families could regain a sense of control over their lives during the shock and stress of diagnosis and treatment.

Each new Centre is built to a unique design in order to create an uplifting, inspiring atmosphere, using natural light, decor, art and furnishing to reduce stress levels and promote a sense of healing and well-being. Maggie's has been privileged to work with some of the world’s leading architects in setting up existing and planned Centres, including Frank Gehry, Zaha Hadid, Richard Murphy and Page and Park.

The first Centre opened at the Western General Hospital in Edinburgh in 1996, shortly after Maggie’s death. There are now five Centres open in Scotland. Thanks to Walk the Walk Maggie's are able to develop this second Glasgow Centre. Maggie's Lanarkshire Centre is also in the pipeline and an interim service is being launched at Wishaw General Hospital in early 2008.

Maggie's Centres work in partnership with the National Health Service and other cancer charities. The clinical staff responsible for day-to-day treatment and care trust Maggie’s to provide a genuinely complementary service, additional to that provided by the NHS.


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