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On Saturday 30th April 2011 I, along with as many as 1200 others, will attempt to complete Maggie's Monster Bike & Hike 2011. This involves a continous 30 mile cycle followed by a 43 mile hike through the Great Glen Way starting at Neptune's Staircase in Fort William and ending some 24 hours later in Inverness. Although participants have the opportunity to opt to hike 8 miles (bronze level), 22 miles (silver) or 43 miles (gold), it will not surprise you that I'm going for gold.

Why? Because I am undertaking this on behalf of Maggie's Centres. Maggie's is an independent, registered charity (the Maggie Keswick Jencks Cancer Caring Centres Trust - SC024414).

Maggie Keswick Jencks was the co-founder, alongside Charles Jencks, of Maggie’s Cancer Caring Centres. Maggie was a writer, a landscape designer, a painter and a mother of two. In May 1993, Maggie was told that her breast cancer had recurred and spread to her bones, liver and brain. When asked, her Dumfries oncologist gave her two to three months to live. By joining a trial involving advanced chemotherapy Maggie extended her life by a further 18 months and it was in this time that her idea for a cancer caring centre was born.

The position she found herself in gave her the opportunity to work out what it was that she and the many others affected by cancer needed. She was convinced that everybody would feel better as she did, if they felt able to take some active role in what was happening to them. In order not to be a ‘cancer victim’, she believed you needed help with information, that would allow you to be an informed participant in your medical treatment, help with stress reducing strategies, psychological support and the opportunity to meet up and share with other people in similar circumstances in a relaxed domestic atmosphere.

She talked to her medical team at the Western General Hospital in Edinburgh about a place to help their patients with the very real, if not medical, problems of living with cancer. She drew up a blueprint and plans for a pioneering venture, in a stable block in the grounds of the hospital.

Maggie died in July 1995. The first Maggie’s Centre opened in Edinburgh in November 1996 and now, some 15 years later, there are seven up and running in the UK (5 of which are in Scotland) with a further 8 in planning in both the UK and as far afield as Hong Kong and Barcelona.

All the money required to develop their programme of support and build and run their centres is supplied by donations.

A Maggie’s Centre is a place to turn to for help with any of the problems, small or large, associated with cancer. Under one roof you can access help with information, benefits advice, psychological support both individually and in groups, courses and stress reducing strategies. You don’t have to make an appointment, or be referred and everything offered is free of charge. 

They are there for anybody who feels the need for help, which includes those who love and look after someone with cancer, who often feel as frightened and vulnerable as those who actually have the disease. 

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity and make sure Gift Aid is reclaimed on every eligible donation by a UK taxpayer. So it’s the most efficient way to donate - I raise more, whilst saving time and cutting costs for the charity.

The effort that I will have to put in to training for this event, not to mention the 24 hour event itself is negligible, almost irrelevant, compared to that faced by others living and coping with cancer. 

I will achieve my aim of completing Maggie's Monster Bike & Hike.

So please dig deep and donate now. Many Thanks.