Macmillan Cancer Support - how do they help?

With the nation’s favourite coffee morning taking place today, it’s a great time to shine the spotlight on all the work Macmillan do to help those living with cancer in the UK. Did you know these coffee mornings, which Macmillan uses as one of their biggest fundraising events, regularly raises over £10million annually? The first Coffee Morning took place in 1990, when it was a much smaller affair: people would gather over coffee and donate the cost to Macmillan in the process. Since then, the Coffee Morning has raised over £290 million for Macmillan. 

Sadly, 3 million people are living with cancer in the UK? By 2030 this figure is estimated to rise to 4 million . 

Macmillan are here to help everyone with cancer, live life as fully as they can. They do whatever it takes, no matter what a person's needs are, and will listen and support them whatever they need. 

Macmillan Cancer Support offer support in a variety of ways: 

• Providing emotional, practical, physical, and financial support at every stage of their cancer experience 

• Carrying out fundraising due to being 98% funded by voluntary donations  

• Providing resources, tools, information, and training to healthcare professionals 

• Helping employers support staff, offering training to managers and HR professionals. 

Here are just a few of the highlights of how Macmillan helped people in 2022:

The services Macmillan offers reached an estimated 2 million people living with cancer 

Approximately 730,000 people received person-to-person support from one of the Macmillan Professionals or services 

Macmillan gave out over £19 million in grants, and estimate they secured over £350 million in benefits through advice provided 

Supporters and fundraisers raised an incredible £221.2 million 

How can your fundraising help Macmillan? 

£71 could help run our Online Community forum for over 3 hours. Typically, that would give nearly 198 people affected by cancer both emotional and practical support by providing a safe environment to share their experiences and emotions. 

£100 could pay for a person affected by cancer to attend a health and wellbeing event, providing them with skills to improve the management of these areas in their lives. 

£350 could pay for a Macmillan grant that helps a family affected by cancer take a holiday and enjoy precious time together. This can relieve financial pressure on a family that has been affected by cancer. 

£646 could pay for a Macmillan Support Worker for a week, helping patients, family members and carers manage the social and practical problems of living with cancer. 

£1202 could pay for a Macmillan nurse for a week, helping people living with cancer and their families receive essential medical, practical and emotional support.