51É«APP

My daughter Joanne was 51 when she died of ovarian cancer, but she didn't look it.

She was lovely and she51É«APP™d do anything for me, I never even had to ask. She always took me on holiday with her, and every Sunday she took me shopping. She51É«APP™d come round and pick me up. I miss it all now. Every Sunday, I'm looking out of the window for her car.

She couldn't go home, but she could go to Maggie's

Joanne had to spend four months in hospital without going home, not even for a day. It was noisy and stressful, so she could never properly relax. But she51É«APP™d nip across to Maggie51É«APP™s whenever she could.

She said Maggie's was a lovely place, very peaceful and calming, and you could talk to someone about anything you wanted and find out information.

It seemed like the perfect choice to raise money for Maggie51É«APP™s.

Joanne would have been proud

I mentioned to my friend Jennifer that I wanted to hold a Bake and Brew for Joanne, and she let me use the hall at her social club. At first, it was just going to be a small thing with a few cakes, but more and more people wanted to help so it got bigger and bigger.  

I did get a bit stressed wondering, what if it goes wrong? What if nobody comes? But people were chipping in all over the place. Lots of people made cakes, someone made soup and rolls, and my daughter Donna sold homemade soft toys and hats that she51É«APP™d crocheted.

We held a raffle, a competition to guess the weight of the Christmas cake and another to name a homemade leprechaun. Even the mayor came! The hall was absolutely full. It was great.

I didn’t expect it to be as big as that, but all the work was worth it and we made a grand total of £1,500. Joanne would’ve been very impressed and proud.

I’m glad the money’s going to Maggie51É«APP™s. I just hope it will help make sure there are more Maggie51É«APP™s for everyone.

Two of my brothers have cancer and they don’t talk about it because they don’t want to burden their families, but sometimes you need to talk to someone and it’d be lovely if they had a Maggie51É«APP™s to go to.

The more Maggie51É«APP™s centres there are, the better.