Maggie's Centres offer beauty and dignity to terminally ill
Designed by famous architects and available free of charge, Maggie's Centres aim to inspire and comfort those affected by cancer, says Giovanna Dunmall
When designer Maggie Keswick Jencks found out that her cancer had spread to her bones, liver and bone marrow, she was sitting in a harshly lit room with her husband, landscape architect and writer Charles Jencks. She sat in a windowless corridor of the hospital contemplating "having two to three months to live".
This dismal episode was a catalyst for Jencks. In the short time she had left - experimental and complementary treatment would extend her life for another two years - she devised a blueprint for a progressive cancer caring centre where people felt respected, soothed and supported, and the design of the building contributed to their recovery and well-being.
The prognosis of cancer sufferers may often be bleak, she argues, but no patient should spend his or her last remaining weeks, months or years in equally bleak environments. Shouldn't the "punch in the stomach" that is a cancer diagnosis be received in a calm and beautiful setting? Also, wouldn't it be wonderful if cancer sufferers could retain their autonomy and dignity, and take control of their diagnosis, instead of just being a medical statistic?
The centre she had in mind would offer medical information, psychological support, advice on nutrition, relaxation therapies and exercise classes.
Keswick Jencks, who died in 1995, didn't live long enough to see her vision come to fruition, but if she had, she'd have liked what she saw. The first Maggie's Centre opened at Western General Hospital in Edinburgh in 1996, in a stable block converted by architect Richard Murphy. There are now 12 fully operational Maggie's Centres in Britain (funded by a mix of private and corporate donations and public fund-raising initiatives) and nine more in the pipeline.