Maggie’s will be working with grant-making breast cancer charity Walk the Walk to develop a new Centre at Forth Valley Royal Hospital, providing support and hope for the thousands in the region affected by cancer.

Walk the Walk has pledged a grant of £3million to bring a Maggie’s Centres to the region. The funds are part of the monies raised at Walk the Walk’s iconic MoonWalk Edinburgh, which sees thousands and thousands of women and men Power Walking a half or full marathon in brightly decorated bras.

This is the second time that the two charities have united to create vast and lasting improvements to cancer support across Scotland, following on from the hugely successful Maggie’s Gartnavel Centre in Glasgow, which opened in October 2011 and was fully funded by Walk the Walk.

The Centre will be based just a short walk from the Oncology Unit at Forth valley Royal Hospital and will serve the cancer populations of the Forth Valley, taking in Larbert, Dunblane, Falkirk, Stirling, Alloa and Grangemouth. More than 1600 people are diagnosed with cancer in Forth Valley every year.

Walk the Walk and Maggie’s are today encouraging people to sign up to this year’s MoonWalk Edinburgh, which takes place on Saturday, June 9th (www.walkthewalk.org). The Falkirk Herald are showing their support by calling on all their readers to join them and sign up for the challenge and are hoping to enter the largest team ever to take part in The MoonWalk.

Nina Barough CBE, Founder of Walk the Walk, said:

“Having celebrated the opening of the new Maggie’s centre at Glasgow’s Gartnaval Hospital in October 2011, it is with great pleasure that Walk the Walk have made the decision to become the principle funder of yet another new Maggie’s centre, this time at Forth Valley Royal Hospital in Larbert.”

Maggie’s CEO, Laura Lee, said:

"We are overwhelmed by Walk the Walk’s generosity and commitment to making sure that people across the Forth Valley do not have to go through a cancer journey alone.”

Professor Fiona Mackenzie, Chief Executive of NHS Forth Valley, said:

“We are absolutely delighted with the news Forth Valley Royal Hospital has been chosen as the site for a new Maggie’s Centre. This will be a wonderful new facility for the many hundreds of people from across Forth Valley who are treated for cancer every year"

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