Monty pitches in to help North Lanarkshire Maggie’s

Feb 18 2009 by Graham Miller, Wishaw Press

COLIN MONTGOMERIE has stepped in to help Maggie’s in North Lanarkshire, which is currently based at Wishaw General Hospital.

The proposed centre for the county’s cancer sufferers and their families is to be funded by a foundation set up in memory of the top golfer’s mother, Elizabeth.

The Elizabeth Montgomerie Foundation was established in memory of the Ryder Cup captain’s mum, who died of cancer in 1991. It provides practical and emotional support to cancer patients, their families and carers.

The foundation has joined in partnership with Maggie’s to help build the new Lanarkshire centre at Monklands Hospital but the interim facility is in Wishaw and opened last year.

Colin said: “The death of my mother from lung cancer was a devastating time for my family and me and I witnessed at first hand the horrific impact this disease can have. I was therefore determined to do something about this and I decided to focus on the West of Scotland – the part of the world where I was born, where my mother was treated and where there are some of the highest cancer rates in Europe.

“I am therefore delighted to be working with the Maggie’s Cancer Care Centres to develop the Elizabeth Montgomerie Building, which I know will provide exactly the type of support needed by cancer patients and their families.”

Motherwell and Wishaw MSP Jack McConnell was very pleased that the Elizabeth Montgomerie Foundation is to fund the new Maggie’s Centre.

The former First Minister said: “I am absolutely delighted that Colin Montgomerie has chosen Lanarkshire to be his top priority for the new foundation. As an Ayrshire man, Colin could quite easily have gone back to his home county but he chose Lanarkshire – which has one of the worst cancer rates in Europe – as the best place to leave a lasting memorial to his mother, Elizabeth.”

Maggie’s CEO Laura Lee said: “We are delighted that the Elizabeth Montgomerie Foundation plan to raise the funds for Maggie’s Lanarkshire.

“The people of Lanarkshire deserve access to the vital support that only a Maggie’s Centre can offer - to help to transform their lives positively and build a life beyond the disease.

“Colin’s most generous announcement will ensure that Maggie’s can provide even more support in an even more ambitious centre than we had thought possible for the people of Lanarkshire.”

It is hoped that the foundation will raise between £2m and £3m for Maggie’s Lanarkshire. The interim facility in Wishaw will continue to operate until the new centre opens. Whether it remains open after that has yet to be decided.

Building work on the new Maggie’s Lanarkshire is expected to start next year but there is no definite timescale.

The permanent centre is to be located at Monklands because NHS Lanarkshire are moving cancer treatment facilities there from Wishaw General.

The new site will be bigger, enabling Maggie’s to offer a better facility.

Funds are still needed to help to build the centre and to safeguard running costs for the first three years and to compensate for the increase in building costs.

In 2004, the Wishaw Press and our sister papers – the Airdrie and Coatbridge Advertiser, Hamilton Advertiser and East Kilbride News – helped raise more than £100,000 for Maggie’s Lanarkshire. People organised fund-raising events and took part in a Buy a Brick for Maggie’s campaign.

Maggie’s has purpose-built centres at Edinburgh, Glasgow, Dundee, Highlands and Fife and an interim service in London and Swansea.