Marie Curie Cancer Care is one of the UK’s largest charities. It was established in 1948 – the same year as the NHS – and marked its 60th anniversary in 2008.

Employing more than 2,700 nurses, doctors and other healthcare professionals, we expect to provide care to around 29,000 terminally ill patients in the community and in our hospices this year, along with support for their families.

We mainly care for people with cancer but we also care for people with other life-limiting illnesses. Our services are always free of charge to patients and their families, which means that we need to raise £9,212 every hour of every day.

The charity is best known for its network of Marie Curie Nurses working in the community to provide end of life care for patients in their own homes.

We have nine hospices across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, and two centres for palliative care research. We conduct palliative care research to find better ways of caring for terminally ill people. We also fund seven scientific teams at UK universities investigating the causes and treatments of cancer.

Website: www.mariecurie.org.uk