The money you raise will help us provide more information to people affected by cancer.
Your support is vital to the work of Macmillan in Kent. Every year over 7000 people in the county are told they have cancer. With improvements to treatment and an increasingly ageing population, more people than ever before are living with cancer which means the need for Macmillan services will keep on growing.
In response to the needs of local people with cancer, we recently launched a new appeal to raise over £1 million to help build a cancer care unit at Medway Maritime Hospital. Every year 1,500 people living in Medway and Swale will be told they have cancer. Most district general hospitals in Kent have a local chemotherapy service, but Medway and Swale patients still have to travel miles for life saving treatment. The new Macmillan Cancer Care Unit will enable local people to receive chemotherapy in their local hospital, and will provide a new purpose built haematology ward for patients with leukemia and blood cancers.
Across the county, your fundraising will enable people affected by cancer to benefit from 100 Macmillan nurses and cancer care professionals based in hospitals, hospices and out in the community.
Cancer patients tell us that correct and timely information plays an important part of their cancer journey, and Macmillan has a wealth of literature on hand aswell as our dedicated CancerLine. For those patients in financial difficulty due to their illness, Macmillan offers benefits advice and access to a Macmillan grant which may help to pay for rent arrears, treatment fares or childcare bills for example. In Kent last year, we gave over £210,000 in grants to cancer patients in Kent.
To ensure we continue providing these much needed services it is vital that we receive help from our supporters, like you. Thank you.