麻豆社

To find out more about The Haven please go to their .

Or write to:

The Haven, Effie Road, London, SW6 1TB

Or call: 020 7384 0099

Actor Martin Clunes presents an appeal on behalf of the Haven, a charity giving people with breast cancer care and support. At five centres across the UK, the Haven鈥檚 specialist nurses run programmes of complementary therapies, exercise classes and counselling to help people cope with the debilitating effects of treatment and the emotional toll of living with the disease. Martin feels a particular connection to the Haven because one of his best friends had such a positive experience here.

The Haven supports people from first diagnosis, alongside the medical treatment they are receiving. Jackie Scully found a lump when she was just 32, and felt her life collapse around her. Luckily for Jackie, the Haven was there to help, supporting her through the psychological as well as physical effects of breast cancer. As Jackie puts it 鈥渢he NHS saved my life 鈥� the Haven gave it back to me鈥�. Jackie鈥檚 now training for the London Marathon.

The Haven needs 拢1000 for each programme of complementary therapies and counseling, and relies on donations to help more people with breast cancer get back their quality of life.

For more information, go to their website , like on , follow on or comment on .

Pat, her husband Pete and their daughter were living an active outdoors life here in Shropshire, where they ran their own business. Then in October 2009 everything changed. Pat felt a very, very small lump in her right breast. Her husband Pete said she really should go and get it checked out. Pat was told she had breast cancer and would soon learn it had spread to her liver and spleen. She was given chemotherapy 鈥� a course of medicines to eliminate cancerous cells.听聽

On top of this, she later developed a blood clot on her leg, and carpal tunnel syndrome 鈥� which gave her pain in her fingers and toes. As Pat found at that dark moment, cancer has a huge psychological as well as physical impact. It has now spread to her bowel, lungs and stomach and she has a scan every few months to monitor it.

The Havens are here to help people through every aspect of cancer. Pete booked her in to their open day and drove her down there. Pat came out of there feeling positive for the first time in over six months. Acupuncture helps her carpal tunnel syndrome. The Havens offer treatments and therapies which help people cope with the debilitating effects of chemotherapy. They also give advice on anything from diet to finances. It鈥檚 the chance to focus not on the illness but on life.

Jackie Scully鈥檚 life was completely thrown into turmoil when she was only 32. She discovered a lump on Christmas Eve, and got engaged to her partner of 13 years on Christmas Day. A few weeks later together they weren鈥檛 talking about guest lists and venues, they were talking about fertility preservation, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy and mastectomy surgery.听聽

Jackie felt she needed something beyond the purely physical treatment she was getting from the hospital. She says: 鈥淭here wasn鈥檛 enough time to talk about me and what I was going through and how that made me feel when I walked out of the consultation room door鈥︹��

The Haven reaches out to people using the internet. And Jackie took part in an exercise video for the charity鈥檚 website. With all the support around her, Jackie felt strong enough to take up running even before her chemotherapy was complete.

She did her first ever 10k a week before her last Chemo with no hair, a pick line in her arm and an acute oncology card in her back pocket and is now in training for The London Marathon.

Jackie says: 鈥淐ancer took my right boob, it took my tummy fat, it took my lymph nodes, it took my taste buds and it took my hair. The Haven gives you something back. It gives you a little bit of yourself back.鈥� 麻豆社 Lifeline is appealing for donations on behalf of the Haven in order to help even more people like Pat and Jackie.

Find out more about Jackie on her .听