Hugh Grant launches Marie Curie’s Great Daffodil Appeal
Hugh Grant has launched Marie Curie’s Great Daffodil Appeal today calling on people all over the UK to make a donation and wear a daffodil pin – the charity’s emblem – throughout March.
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Hugh has supported the charity as a fundraiser and ambassador since his mother died at home in 2001, cared for by Marie Curie Nurses. The actor has made a short film to promote the appeal, featuring charity fundraiser Maria Gleeson and Marie Curie Nurse Lorna McGarry.
Maria’s husband Paul died two years ago and was cared for at home by Marie Curie Nurses. She first learned about the Marie Curie Nursing Service when she heard Hugh Grant being interviewed on the radio. By this time her husband was critically ill and Maria was finding it difficult to cope on her own.
Maria said: “By 10pm that same day, we had a Marie Curie Nurse on our doorstep. The nurses were wonderful and gave some much needed emotional and practical support to all the family, allowing Paul to stay at home until he died”.
Hugh said: “Like Maria, I know from my own experience that Marie Curie Nurses provide care to terminally ill patients, allowing them to die in their own homes, which is where most of us would like to be. Marie Curie can’t deliver this service without donations from the public and I urge everyone to dig in their pockets, make a donation and wear a daffodil with pride.
“Volunteer fundraisers will be out collecting in town centres throughout March and daffodil pins can also be picked up from thousands of local stores, schools and Marie Curie shops across the UK.”
“The care we are able to provide makes such a difference to patients and their loved ones,” says Nurse Lorna in the film. “So often, we arrive in people’s homes as professionals and leave as family friends.”
Find out more about Marie Curie’s Great Daffodil Appeal HERE>>
Celebrities call for 20,000 volunteers for Marie Curie Cancer Care
An array of well known faces have come together to support Marie Curie Cancer Care’s Great Daffodil Appeal this year.
Stephen Fry, Tony Blackburn, Lynda Bellingham, Jon Culshaw, Alison Steadman, and Sir Ranulph Fiennes are among the stars who feature in a short video calling on people to volunteer to raise funds to provide nursing care for terminally ill people in their own homes. The video, which can be viewed online at http://www.mariecurie.org.uk/daffodil/ ), has been made by Marie Curie Cancer Care to help recruit 20,000 volunteer collectors for its 2010 Great Daffodil Appeal.
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