Sarah Brown visits site of Maggie's Cotswolds & opens Sam Taylor-Wood Exhibition in Cheltenham
Sarah Brown will today visit the site of the planned Maggie’s Cotswolds Centre at Cheltenham General Hospital. This is one of five new centres planned for England and Wales as part of the £15 million ‘Joy of Living’ fundraising campaign. Designed by Sir Richard MacCormac of MJP Architects the centre will be open to anyone affected by cancer in the Cotswolds.
In celebration of the planned centre, Sarah Brown will also open an exhibition of inspiring portraits taken by Sam Taylor-Wood. The exhibition, which runs until 19 December at Pittville Studios Gallery in Cheltenham, features portraits of Maggie’s visitors photographed by Sam Taylor-Wood at the end of last year.
Sarah Brown comments, “What Maggie’s offers is unique; it is a place where people can find the time and space they need to really deal with a diagnosis of cancer. Sam has captured beautifully the spirit of courage and calm that these centres create. The beauty of the Maggie’s approach is that people are able to take what they need when they need it from the support that’s on offer, which is truly empowering.”
Sam Taylor-Wood, who is a Patron of Maggie’s, comments:
“Every person shown has been affected by cancer, either living with the disease themselves or supporting a loved one through their own illness. I hope that the portraits have captured their strong and mildly heroic spirit. They were very brave to put their faces to this, as it can’t have been an easy decision.”
Speaking at the launch event, Richard Smith, who is featured in one of the portraits, will describe his experience having cancer and of Maggie’s. Richard has had testicular cancer twice, the most prevalent cancer among men aged between 15 and 45. He says:
“Having cancer opened up my empathy for other people. That’s partly Maggie’s and partly the experience of the disease. It made me reassess life; reassess what’s important; reassess how I want to be with others. Somehow it made me more caring, more understanding, more tolerant. I now want to do things to help other people. It had a fundamental effect on my life.”
Maggie’s Chief Executive Laura Lee says:
“We’re thrilled to be expanding into the Cotswolds as part of our Joy of Living campaign. It is thanks to the support of Sarah and Sam as well as the local community that we’re able to create a Maggie’s Centre for anyone affected by cancer in the region. The centre will be a calm space where anyone can go to seek information, support and advice to help them cope with both the practical and the emotional impact of a cancer diagnosis.”