by Meg McCaldin THE FIRST key event was the appointment, in 1978, of Dr. Malcolm McIllmurray ('Prof Mac' to everyone now) to the post of general physician with part-time responsibility for medical oncology in the area of the North West Regional Health Authority which covered North Lancs and South Cumbria. Up to that time both chemotherapy and radiotherapy were carried out in various venues and much of it administered by Christie Hospital in Manchester, involving many patients in very long journeys. There was no counselling or support service; no specialized terminal or palliative care.

Malcolm McIllmurray had a vision of a holistic cancer service, which took account of the emotional and spiritual needs of patients and their families as well as giving high quality physical care. He became a prominent member of the group which worked to give the area a Hospice and very soon took the unusual step of appointing an Oncology Health Visitor in the person of Pippa Holdcroft (now Youren). Pippa was able both to attend his clinics and visit patients in their homes, so she quickly identified the fear and lack of information which surrounded cancer as an illness.

Support Group

In 1982 a relatives’ support group was started, which was quickly expanded to include patients as well, and gradually she gathered a small group of interested professionals around her to help families deal with the shattering effect of a diagnosis of cancer. Through 1983 they moved towards the idea of starting a charity to address wider issues, look into the benefits of complementary therapies and undertake some educational work. In January 1984 a group representing hospital and community doctors and nurses, social services and local voluntary organizations met to hear Dr. McIllmurray describe the aims of the charity and Dr. David Gorst became the Co-Chairman of the Advisory Group which was formed. Charitable status was immediately applied for and the Manpower Services Commission backed us with a programme which covered the administration of an office for the first three years. Well, it wasn’t exactly an office — more like a cupboard, but it gave us a phone line (the same number we have today), someone to deal with enquiries and the possibility of raising funds. At our first coffee morning at the Gregson Institute we raised the princely sum of £300, having no idea that in 4 years’ time our budget would be in five figures, and by the year 2000 would approach £500,000.

Regular monthly meetings started in April 1984 at the Health Promotion Unit in Slyne Road, but quickly outgrew those premises and had to move to Ryelands House. By this time Lizzie Watson and I had both become involved and it was agreed that we should try out complementary therapies as a way of relieving stress and anxiety -Lizzie offering massage and me offering group relaxation. It is hard to realize now that this was breaking very new ground and that patients were often quite reluctant to take up the offer of therapy.

Sister Aine

In November of that year St. John's Hospice opened and in the following spring Sister Aine, the Matron, generously suggested that we set up our office in a room they were not yet using. The room now used by the Macmillan team became our base for the next four years and established the very close working relationship which we have with the Hospice today. Also at the end of 1984 support nurses were appointed in South Lakeland. One of them was Ellie Maguire who, with Susie Roth, set up the Kendal Drop-In on Thursday mornings to coincide with Dr. Mac’s clinic at Westmorland County. In the following year Ken Youren set up the Morecambe Drop-In along similar lines, and the pattern had been set for this kind of informal get-together of patients, relatives, bereaved relatives and friends to be repeated in Ambleside, Windermere and Lancaster. Susie Roth, having helped to establish the first Drop-In and subsequently served a period as Matron of St. John’s, is now the facilitator for the whole network.

Social Day Care

By 1988 the therapy team had grown at lot; we were offering domiciliary physiotherapy, massage, hypnotherapy and experimenting with Alexander Technique. Social Day Care was started at the Hospice, run by volunteers with great sensitivity and commitment. We were fortunate to attract professional teachers to introduce craft work, art and jewellery making. We found patients were delighted to have new activities to try at a time when their lives were being greatly restricted by illness, and they appreciated the opportunity to meet with others in similar circumstances.

It became clear that the organization was becoming much more wide ranging - we had launched the first edition of Rapport in 1986 and it was being produced on a regular basis. We had established links with other cancer charities, such as the Bristol Centre, BACUP, and have from the beginning sent delegates every year to the National Conference of Self Help Groups run in Manchester by CancerLink. We also began to be involved in education work by running national conferences ourselves.

CancerCare was becoming very complex to administer and the decision was made to put it on a more secure management footing. I was appointed as the first full-time Services Manager in May, 1988.

Slynedales

No sooner had I got my feet under the proverbial desk than Pippa, who had long cherished the ambition to see CancerCare have its own premises, decided that we could no longer operate efficiently from our one small office and persuaded the Management Committee that it was time for us to move on. Various options were considered but Slynedales, the Victorian house behind the Hospice, seemed to beckon us. It belonged to Lancashire County Council and had been used as a Remand Home for girls until being left empty. When we visited it had been badly vandalised, all the windows were boarded up and as you approached it through the overgrown garden it looked very much like Dracula’s Castle. It’s potential, however, was obvious and when it came on the market we abandoned other possibilities and went all out to buy it. A Slynedales Appeal Committee was set up under the very able chairmanship of Peter Cole and he bought the house for us at a nail biting auction on July 12th, 1989. The Appeal target was set at £400,000 and there followed a period of intense fund-raising and public relations activity to reach that goal. The house needed major building work and refurbishment, which was undertaken by Stuart Townson, and almost all the redecoration was done by volunteers and men on community service under the able leadership of Ken Youren. The Young People’s Splinter Group undertook to restore the beautiful stained glass on the landing and in the front door, and I begged, borrowed and stole to equip the house as a therapy centre! CancerCare administration (which at that time consisted solely of Pat Johnson and I) moved up to Slynedales in December 1990 and by the spring of 1991 the centre was fully operational. It was officially opened by Thora Hird in the September and she described it as “A house full of Love and laughter”?.

Management Structure

By the end of 1991 the Appeal target had been reached and the greatly increased responsibilities demanded a change of management structure. In 1992 the post of Services Manager was split; David Hopkins was appointed General Administrator and I became Co-ordinator of Therapies. A year later, in line with the changes happening in palliative care, it was decided that the running of Day Care both at the Hospice and Slynedales should be handed over to St. John’s, so that there could be a much-needed medical input. Susie Bulman was appointed the first Day Care Sister.

Kendal

Gradually we began to plan for better services in Cumbria. Most therapies had to be offered initially on a domiciliary basis and we knew we could help more people if we had our own base in Kendal. In 1993 we found a semi-detached house which we could lease, adjacent to Helme Chase on Burton Road, and our splendid team of Kendal volunteers worked hard to furnish and decorate what was to be a very pleasant home there for the next couple of years.

By the spring of 1994, when CancerCare had its 10th anniversary, we had extended the original therapies to include counselling, aromatherapy, woodwork, yoga and swimming, and we had 22 therapists working for us. At the end of that year I returned to doing therapy work full-time and Tina Pannell took the post of Co-ordinator of Therapies. We needed an administrator at Kendal and an administrative assistant in Lancaster to cope with the services being offered at both centres. Two years later we had outgrown Burton Road and we began to look around for bigger premises to buy. Blackhall Road Clinic, opposite the Bus Station in Kendal, became vacant and CancerCare arranged to rent it for a year with an option to purchase at the end. The Lakes Appeal was launched in October 1996, this time under the chairmanship of Glyn Roberts from Ambleside, and a target of £225,000 was reached in record time. This covered not only the purchase of the building but considerable refurbishment as well. We continued to use it as it was for some months, while detailed plans were drawn up, and on September 1st 1998 it closed for the building work to be done. During that period therapy work was kept going in a selection of venues round Kendal, but everyone was very glad when the centre opened again at the beginning of November. Once again our Kendal volunteers played a vital part in furnishing the building and making it a warm and welcoming place. The completed centre was officially opened on 6 March 1999. It now has a full range of therapies and social day care on Wednesday, and recently BACUP has strengthened its links with CancerCare by setting up its N.W. information service in the Lakes Centre.

New Therapies

In the last couple of years we have added in art therapy and a lymphoedema service, and there are monthly Breast Care Drop-Ins in both centres. The number of therapists employed by CancerCare is now over 30 and we are continuing to expand all the time. We continue to work closely with the Hospice and the cancer service in both hospitals - providing therapies when they are required and general support to patients and their families. With St. John’s we run a programme of educational events in the Sir John Fisher Education Centre, and there can be few people in the area who are not aware of our charity shops. Again, these are run by volunteers and have provided both organizations with a steady income over the years. And, of course, it is the volunteers who are really the life blood of a charity like ours; without them we would not have had the funds to develop the quality service we have today. Following the two Appeals, Judy Rayner continued to head up a fund-raising team in Kendal, and first Mark Bateson and then Mo Appleton did the same in Lancaster. They put on major events while others have continued to organize a variety of other fund-raising activities. There are members both in Kendal and Lancaster who have done an enormous amount to get CancerCare to where it is today. Regrettably they are too numerous to mention, but they know who they are, and I am glad to have the opportunity to acknowledge their tremendous contribution here. I hope they are as proud as I am of what has been achieved. In order to ensure that the organization continues to have the funds it needs, Chris Ashby has now been appointed to coordinate fund-raising and public relations, and to develop our volunteer network.

The Future?

So, where do we go from here? Later this year it will be the 10th anniversary of Slynedales — a time to be proud of all we have achieved and to wonder what new directions we will have taken by the time we get to the 20th anniversary of CancerCare in 2004? I have no doubt that we shall continue to respond to the needs of patients and their families to the best of our ability, to adapt to changes in the Health Service and, where appropriate, to fill any gaps. One recent development has been the creation of the Morecambe Bay Health Authority, which takes in the area across to Barrow which formerly came under Newcastle. We already have links with St. Mary’s Hospice at Ulverston and would like not only to strengthen those but possibly to be part of developing a comprehensive service in Furness. Whatever happens I am sure there will be exciting challenges ahead and that CancerCare will serve the people of North Lancs and South Cumbria with the same commitment in the future as it has done in the past.