Laura Lee

Laura Lee trained as an oncology nurse at St Bartholomew’s Hospital in London before going on to work as a clinical nurse specialist at the Western General Hospital in Edinburgh, where she met and gave chemotherapy to Maggie Keswick Jencks when her breast cancer was re-diagnosed.

Laura shared Maggie’s vision that cancer support should be housed in a non-clinical and uplifting environment. By the time Maggie died in July 1995, all the necessary groundwork had been done to ensure the first Centre could become a reality and Laura left her job within the NHS to take on responsibility for making Maggie’s vision a reality.

The Edinburgh Centre was supposed to be a one-off but by the end of this year, 20 years after the first Centre in Edinburgh was finished, there will be 20 Maggie’s Centres across the UK and abroad, with more planned both in the UK and overseas. Laura’s career has seen her become the biggest commissioner of modern architecture in the world and she has met many high profile supporters including Michelle Obama and the charity’s president The Duchess of Cornwall.

Laura has turned Maggie’s into an international charity helping people with cancer and their family and friends the world over. Laura’s vision is that everyone should have access to emotional support in an uplifting environment and she has made it her life’s work to make this vision a reality.

For more information on Maggie’s visit www.maggiescentres.org