Christine's story – raising money with cake

My husband's experience

When my husband was 42, he had a bad back. He went to see a doctor who diagnosed him with disc problems and said he should have some physio.

The back pain didn’t go away. He wasn’t sleeping and found it difficult to sit down. He also wasn’t eating very well. I thought it was something more serious than backache.

Our friend recommended a doctor, who saw him and immediately told him to go and see a Gastroenterologist. He went the next day and was admitted to hospital.

He had some tests and two days later he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. He was given six months to live.

They found the tumour in a place they couldn’t operate, so all they could do was give him chemotherapy.

I felt quite shocked. I wanted to do whatever I could to try and make him better. I looked everywhere for different things to do.

Maggie's would have helped so much

There was nowhere to go, nobody to speak to. Had we known about Maggie’s, I feel that we all could have benefitted so much. Not just my husband who was going through treatment, but also myself and the children.

Trying to find a way to explain to my children what was happening was so difficult, Maggie’s could have helped so much with this.

I also feel that practically, I could have got a lot of advice from somewhere like Maggie’s. My only help came from the oncologist who tried really hard to support me and give me some advice on how I should carry on.

It would have helped my husband so much to understand his diagnosis, to talk about the medication, to receive practical advice about what he could do, what he couldn’t do and how it could improve his life.

Emotionally, it would have helped him so much as he would have been able to speak to someone who would understand what he was going through and just listen to him.

The beauty of Maggie’s is the fact that they support family and friends, it’s just such a wonderful thing.

Often, family and friends are missed out or are deemed not as important. 

However, family and friends are often suffering more because they don’t know what to do, they don’t know how to cope, they don’t know how to help the situation.

I did feel very lost. I felt like I wasn’t doing enough or wasn’t doing the right thing. Maybe being able to speak to someone at Maggie’s would have made me feel that I was doing whatever I could at the time.

Kitchen Table Day

Me and my daughter are both big Maggie’s supporters and we try and do as much as we can.

We decided to do a Kitchen Table Day because we both like cake and it’s such a great way of raising money and bringing people together.

We raised about £530 in two hours, which was amazing. It was a great day, people found out about Maggie’s and hopefully will spread the word.

I would recommend that people do a Kitchen Table Day – it’s such a fun way of raising money. You can invite all your friends round and eat cake!

Host a Kitchen Table Day

Host a coffee morning, afternoon tea or dinner party around your kitchen table on Friday 20 September and support people with cancer and those who love them. 

Find out more about how Kitchen Table Day and register for your free pack.