The Sussex Cancer Fund: Helping Cancer Patients in Sussex & Beyond

The Sussex Cancer Fund charity was established in 1981 to work with the NHS to create new and improved facilities providing the best possible cancer care for Sussex. Since then, £3 million has been raised to make the Sussex Cancer Centre more attractive, comfortable and effective.

Unlike many charities, costs are exceptionally low with only a very small percentage spent on administration; almost all money donated to us can be spent directly to benefit our patients.

Our Focus

In recent years we have rebuilt and refurbished the Sussex Cancer Centre, providing improved equipment and facilities to help care for our patients. Sussex Cancer Fund also provides Sussex Hospitals with specialist equipment such as Chemotherapy chairs, scanners and other treatment essentials that unfortunately in the current climate the NHS does not have the resources to supply.

The charity’s most ambitious project is the Macmillan Horizon Centre which we have built in partnership with Macmillan. The long awaited Cancer Support Centre opened in November 2016 and is being used by our patients.

The Support Centre acts as a hub for information and support services across Sussex. The new building provides support for cancer patients and their families in a calm non clinical environment. It also provides cancer information and advice, counselling services, complementary therapies, hair and skincare advice, dietary advice and space for self help and support groups.

Our focus for the future is to help to fund local research projects. Currently the Sussex Cancer Fund is supporting two research projects in conjunction with Brighton and Sussex Medical School. These are being undertaken by specialist registrars in Clinical Oncology who have taken two years out of their training to dedicate to research.

How you can help us

We aim that 95p in every pound goes directly to benefit the Cancer patients in Sussex, so we can guarantee your donations will be well spent. However, it is not just your funds that we need. Despite our heritage we are still a relatively unknown charity, we also need your help to raise our profile throughout Sussex and particularly in the business community.

Chosen Charity

Unfortunately one in three of us in Sussex will develop cancer, which means that everyone through themselves or through a relative or friend will be ultimately affected by it, and anyone who receives oncology treatment at the Royal Sussex County Hospital, Princess Royal Hospital or the Eastbourne General Hospital Cancer Unit will benefit from something the charity has done or paid for.  Since our patients come from all over Sussex, from Rye to Chichester and up to Crawley, it means that your help will directly benefit the many, many people who come through our doors.

Our charity pays for a range of services and equipment for our patients including day-to-day ‘extras’ that make a difficult and stressful experience a little more civilized, we provide a free car park specifically for cancer patients, complementary therapy, free vending machines providing hot fresh drinks for patients, newspapers, magazines and a DVD library for chemotherapy patients.

We also pay for equipment, from specialist gowns for breast cancer patients costing just £10 but which make a big difference to patients’ experiences, right through to medical equipment costing many thousands.

Business Ambassadors

At the Sussex Cancer Fund we also encourage the use of volunteers to become our Business Ambassadors. Our ambassadors are professional individuals that are looking for a way to support the charity that fits into their everyday working life.

Our ambassadors have often been affected by cancer personally or through a close relative, using their experience together with their business connections, to help us to spread the Sussex Cancer Fund message and raise the essential funds to continue our vision.

Summary

•             The money we raise goes towards, equipment, research funding, building projects, staff training and services for cancer patients in Sussex. While we are relatively unknown it is likely that every cancer patient in Sussex will have directly benefitted from something funded by the charity.

•             We have really low overheads, with just two part-time employed members of staff and aiming for at least 95p to the £1 going directly to benefit patients.

•             If you look us up on the Charity Commission's website you will see we are not sitting on thousands of pounds and we do in fact spend the money raised.

•             The money raised doesn't just go into a big pot, fundraisers should they wish to, can pick directly what the money is spent on from the NHS staff/Patient wish list. This helps to give a very tangible idea of how they are helping. It can mean more to say we bought a portable bladder scanner than we raised £XX.

Joanna Godden

Joanna joined the Sussex Cancer Fund in June 2019 as the Marketing and Communications Officer. Previously, Joanna was a Business Ambassador for Sussex Cancer Fund before joining the small team as a permanent member of staff. She is a Chartered Marketer with over twenty years of experience and enjoys all aspects of marketing but witnessing the work of the charity fuelled her passion and prompted her to join the charity. Joanna is responsible for all of the Sussex Cancer Fund's communications and would love to hear from anyone that would like to support the charity. Joanna loves meeting the fundraisers but the best part of her role is hearing from patients and the oncology staff about how Sussex Cancer Fund has helped them.

www.sussexcancerfund.co.uk/

Further reading

Helping A Friend With Cancer: What You Need to Know

3 Simple Steps: What You Can Do For Someone With Cancer