Hi my name is Stephen Connelly. I've worked at JTC Furniture Group Manhattan Works Dundee for 27 years.

In August 2019 my wife Alison was diagnosed with stage 4 Non Small Cell Lung Cancer. It was my birthday and I was at work. I got a phone call, fhe one that no one ever wants to get. My wife told me her GP phoned asking her to come in and bring her husband with her. Instead of celebrating my birthday I found myself sitting with my wife in a GP surgery being told "You have cancer". It was a complete shock. My wife had experienced a pain in her rib, nothing had came up in x rays but the pain was becoming worse. 18 months later after a scan my wife was told she had stage 4 cancer. It was terminal, inoperable and incurable.

For the last 5 years we have made every moment count and have grown to appreciate the small things in life like friends and family and doing what makes us happy, holidays and concerts. We were supported by a small Dundee Cancer charity called CANDU (Cancer Dundee). CANDU is a group of friends all with lived experience of cancer who use that experience to provide specific individual support to people. Whatever they need. Receiving support from people who know what it feels like is invaluable and has helped us so much.

Cancer is a rollercoaster of emotions. It is often overwhelming and we found we needed a few days away from the stress of it all to recharge and rest. We bought a wee lodge in Blairgowrie with my wife's retirement money and as well as using it ourselves we wanted to help others struggling in their cancer journey by offering a short break to them. Candu work with us to do this helping to provide transport and identifying people who need it most.

To date we have supported up to 200 families with a free short break many of whom were at end of life care. Cancer doesn't just affect people emotionally and physically it is a huge financial burden . Many of the families who had a break couldn't afford a holiday or had any transport to go on holiday. The lodge has provided a safe place in lovely surrounding where people can relax and spend quality time with their loved ones making memories to cherish.

We have no source of funding for the lodge and rely completely on donations to continue to offer it for free to people. The yearly pitch fees are £6,600 and we have ongoing costs electricity, gas , maintenance to keep it in pristine condition. We rely completely on the kindness of our friends and family to raise funds and support us.

We would really appreciate if you could help us by giving us a donation. No other charity offers free short breaks for people with cancer and it is needed so much. Every penny we raise will go towards providing free short breaks to people who are really struggling in their cancer journey at a time when they need it the most.

Thank you so much for any support you can offer us

Stephen and Alison Connelly

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