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Possibly one of the larger charities in the UK, Marie Curie Cancer Care is located in London and the charity was formed in 1948, the same year as the National Health Service (NHS).
The charity was set up to help those people who are terminally ill in their own home or in hospices. During the 2010/11 financial year, the charity provided help to 31,800 terminally ill patients in their homes and at also at 9 of the Marie Curie hospices.
On top of this, the charity also provided support to their families with over 2,700 doctors, nurses and various other healthcare professionals helping to provide this care. At their nine hospices in the United Kingdom, promoting quality of life is paramount as well as providing much needed support for their carers. Marie Cure provides the largest number of hospice beds outside of the NHS.
As we mentioned previously, Marie Curie Cancer Care started in 1948, the same year that the NHS was formed. Originally, the Marie Curie hospital, based in Hampstead, was handed over to the NHS but it was a certain number of members from the committee that decided to carry on the Marie Curie name.
This was to be the beginning of the Marie Curie Memorial Foundation, a charity which is dedicated to alleviating suffering from cancer. This then became, what is today known as, Marie Curie Cancer Care.
The very first donation that the charity received was an engagement ring and this helped to start the very first appeal which in turn brought in a very healthy £4,000. The appeal continued and by the time 1950 had rolled around, the amount raised was £30,000.
Two years on from the quite staggering amount that had been raised, Mari Cure officially became a charity with the registration number 207994.
When the charity was finally set up, there was a nationwide survey undertaken in order to help identify medical, nursing and mental research needs in relation to cancer. The results of this survey formed the basis for the work of the foundation back then and, for the most part, they still do today.
The charity has since dedicated itself to the following:
When the survey was sent out and these ideals were decided upon to be the focal point of the organisation’s work, they were seen as revolutionary at the time and this is what helped the Marie Curie Memorial Foundation to become a leader in its field at the time.
Marie Curie today is more dedicated than ever to providing more, and better care to their patients and also their patient’s families. They plan on doing this through one of their nine hospices that can be found throughout the UK.
They’re also committed to carrying out the research that is needed to find out what the best possible care is for their patients and also how they can provide it. They will also ensure that they have the measures in place in order to be able to give their patients the choice of where they want their end of life care and death through the Marie Curie Delivering Choice Programme.
The charity is also determined to make sure that the needs of the dying remain on the political agenda and that they will continue to campaign for their patients to be able to die in their own homes in all four countries of the United Kingdom.
Though many things have changed since their early days in 1948, their core values have remained the same and the Marie Curie Cancer Care charity will continue to put patients and families first.
After reading all of that, you may have one rather simple question “What happens to the money I donate?” well; we’ve got an answer for you.
The support that the charity received in 2012-13 meant that they could provide care for more than 38,777 people. This meant that almost 40,000 people could choose where and how they wanted to spend their final few days.
There are over 2,000 nurses in the UK working for Marie Curie and last year they worked 1,300,000 hours caring for terminally ill patients and in order for Marie Curie to carry on doing the work that they’re doing, they need to raise £10,000 for every hour of every day to be able to carry on their work.
So, any donation that you may have made, you can rest assured that your money is going to a good cause and is helping a number of people that are coming to the end of their time on this earth.
If you’d like to support Jordan Snape, one part of the duo who is climbing Mount Kilimanjaro, he is raising money for the Marie Curie Cancer Care charity.
You can read an interview with Jordan here and if you’d like to donate to the cause, simply click here.
Marie Curie Cancer Care
