Marie Curie was not French. She was Polish. Her maiden name was Maria Sklodowska. She was a physicist and chemist who conducted pioneering research on radioactivity.
She married a French scientist called Pierre Curie and, of course women automatically took their husbands’ name so she was forever known as Marie Curie. The Polish community in Llanelli have never been happy about that because it was Poland that trained her as a scientist. There was equal opportunity in Poland so women who wanted to be scientists could do so. Again in the Eastern European countries, women had equal opportunities.
Mileva Maric, a Serbian scientist and mathematician was brilliant in her own right and studied at Zurich university where one of her colleagues was her future husband, Albert Einstein. He admitted that he could not have achieved what he did without the help and support of Mileva’s scientific mind.
People don’t know that at Bletchley Park there were some Polish mathematicians and they were the ones who broke the enigma code during the Second World War. Our charity was named after her as she researched radioactivity and even in those days they knew it was dangerous and could cause cancer. We were a cancer charity for many years but in more recent years we are an END OF LIFE CARE CHARITY. We look after people with any terminal illness like motor neurone disease, end of life Alzheimer’s disease, including cancer and so on. Our nurses are amazing with the work that they do.
Why do I volunteer with Marie Curie? I am very proud to be a fundraiser and speaker for Marie Curie. First of all I get a real kick out of it. I meet so many interesting and pleasant people. I consider myself immensely privileged to be allowed to represent such a wonderful charity.
I got to hear about their work when my mother was dying of cancer. She was Indian and met my father during the war where she was a staff sergeant and won two medals for her courage, one of which was the Burma Star.
She came over as an immigrant and she gave so much to this country so when people say how awful immigrants are, I know differently. We could not support the NHS if it were not for our immigrant doctors and nurses. I still miss her after all these years as she was an exceptionally clever woman. She passed the MENSA test for geniuses but never joined. One day one of the staff at my father’s school brought out a new intelligence test and asked if anyone wanted to try it. Everybody backed out except my mother, who loved and said, “I don’t mind looking like an idiot.”. She sat the test and he marked it. He came back out as white as a sheet and said, “Mrs. Fisher, did you know you are a genius?”
I needed her brain through my working life. So watching her die was very hard for me as it is for anyone losing their beloved parents. You see that often in the TV programme, “The Repair Shop.” I remember that night, I made sure she was comfortable in bed. The Marie Curie nurse had gone after being with her nearly the whole day and evening. I sat with her until she fell asleep and then I went to bed. I went to take her a cup of tea in the morning and she had died in the night.
When the locum doctor came to fill out the death certificate, he asked where I was when she died. I replied that she had died in her sleep. He said that he had to put in the certificate that she had died alone as there was no-one present. There I am grieving for the loss of my mother but he would not listen to me about being with her until she fell asleep. He put an enormous amount of guilt on me as though I had neglected my mother. It made no difference that I had left my husband temporarily to care for her and that I had been in her house while she was sleeping. The doctor was adamant. So I still live with that guilt.
I could not have coped as I did if it had not been for the Marie Curie nurses. I am forever grateful. Volunteering for them is my way of thanking them for all that they do.
The Charity sent me on a training course in talking about their work. This was very helpful. The fund-raising is collecting money for them. At this period of time is the daffodil campaign. As Marie Curie puts it:
“Your daffodil helps provide better end of life care.”
“We really appreciate your support. Every daffodil means our nurses can care for more people.”
We, the volunteers, are very much supported by the organisation. Our community fundraiser, Lowri Connolly, is absolutely there for us when we need anything. She visits us from time to time to make sure that we are OK. When we need more supplies, we “JUST ASK LOWRI”.
The supermarket, Morrisons, is a fantastic support. They donate masses of money and when we go in to raise money, there is a lovely table laid with a yellow tablecloth and a competition for children of colouring in pictures of daffodils and a great prize. Morrisons supermarket is our main support but we also get help from Asda and Superdrug.
We, the volunteers, really enjoy our work when fundraising. We talk to the customers and thank them for donating. I know for myself, I feel I am really achieving something with the support and credit I am given for my work. For a volunteer, it is very important to feel appreciated. Marie Curie and Lowri do just that.
Thank you.
