Croydon local Jacqueline Durban has been celebrating the life-saving support of her Macmillan nurse, to mark a major fundraising milestone for the owner of many of London’s favourite ‘locals’.
Leading pub company and brewer, Greene King has surpassed its fundraising target for its ‘We LOVE Macmillan Nurses’ campaign, raising over an incredible £900,000. The vital funds raised could pay for more than 27,000[1] hours of Macmillan nurses’ time, helping people living with cancer and their families receive essential medical, practical and emotional support.
Over the past two months, Greene King’s team members and customers joined forces to take on a mammoth fundraising mission across its 1,600+ pubs and support centres. Team members have pushed themselves to their limits by taking on extreme challenge events, such as running and trekking marathons, scaling peaks and tackling the Yr Wyddfa (Snowdonia) Sea to Summit, as well as hosting Macmillan Coffee Mornings up and down the country.
In addition, Greene King, which has been a charity partner of Macmillan for more than 11 years, recently held its biggest ever interactive pub quiz in 630 of its pubs, which raised an incredible £33,000. All of these challenges and events have been kindly supported by donations from Greene King’s generous customers.
Speaking about the impact a Macmillan nurse can have on someone living with cancer is Jacqueline Durban from Croydon who was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma in September 2022, “As soon as I was diagnosed with cancer, I was introduced to my Macmillan nurse, Maxine, who I fondly call my Max, and she has been with me at every step of my journey.
“She was there when I was trying to tell my children that I had cancer, and she was there to help me with financial support while I was unable to work due to chemotherapy.
“She helped me and my family to understand what our lives would look like while I was going through treatment and what it could be like afterwards.
“Max is still very much there for me now. And I cannot stress enough just how difficult cancer is and how important it is to have someone with you every step of the way who is trained and able to give you answers and support and guidance and love through every step of your journey.”
Dr Claire Taylor MBE, Macmillan Chief Nursing Officer, said: “Jacqueline talks so powerfully about the impact that her Macmillan nurse has had, and continues to have, on her cancer experience. That is why support from partners like Greene King is so critical in helping us ensure that more people like Jacqueline, receive the care they so desperately need and deserve.
“Greene King continue to set ambitious fundraising targets and have recently hit an incredible £17million fundraised for Macmillan – we are so thankful for their continued support.”
Nick Mackenzie, CEO at Greene King, said, “‘We LOVE Macmillan Nurses’ is our biggest fundraising campaign of the year, and the passion and dedication from our team members, as well as the generosity of our customers to raise as much money as possible, continues to amaze me. Cancer touches the lives of so many people within the communities that we work and live in, so it’s important for us, now more than ever, to continue to support the fantastic work that Macmillan professionals deliver every day.”
If you have been affected by cancer and would like advice, information, or a chat, you can call Macmillan free on 0808 808 0000.If you would like to find out how you can raise money for Macmillan, please visit our website fundraising ideas and inspiration.
