'I had incredible care here... This was my small way of being able to give back and say thank you': Kate makes surprise appearance at Royal Marsden Hospital where she underwent cancer treatment after raising funds through gruelling Three Peaks Challenge.
The Princess of Wales made a surprise visit to the Royal Marsden Hospital in London this morning to hear how funds raised by her Three Peaks Challenge are being used to help patients - and told staff it had been ‘my small way’ of being able to thank them for the ‘incredible’ treatment she herself received.
Catherine, 44, made the unannounced trip to meet staff and patients benefitting from holistic care, as well as others currently undergoing cancer treatment, just as she did when she was a patient at the world famous hospital in Fulham in 2024.
The future queen secretly undertook the gruelling physical charity climb back in June, to raise funds to build a new specialist centre for Holistic Wellbeing and Recovery as part of a £200 million development of the site.
She completed the Three Peaks Challenge solo, supported on the route by Mountain Rescue, with her proud family meeting her at the last stop at the base of Snowdon, the highest peak in Wales. She had also scaled Ben Nevis and Scafell Pike.
The Princess, wearing a favourite elegant green Suzannah dress and new black sling back shoes, was thanked by Royal Marsden chairman Sir Douglas Flint for her fundraising efforts and spoke modestly but movingly, of how it was her way of ‘giving back’ for all the ‘incredible’ care she has received on her own cancer journey.
She smiled and said: ‘This was my small way of being able to give back and say thank you to you.
'I had incredible care here and support from a huge team and I'm really really grateful on a personal level. But also the holistic care, the treatments and therapeutic support alongside the clinical pathway is so important. It makes a big difference.
‘The impact of nature, the impact of good nutrition, good ongoing support around you when it's really difficult to manage the trials and tribulations of medical treatments... it makes a big difference.
'It made a big difference to me and it made a huge difference to lots of patients who I've spoken to. Thank you and well done. I think it will be transformative not only for patients but for families too.’
She also spoke to patient Sam Suriakumar, 41, who was diagnosed with a brain tumour six years ago about the effect a cancer diagnosis has on their children and families.
He has two daughters, aged five and three. She told him: ‘It’s amazing how resilient you can be.’ He said afterwards: ‘It was such a fantastic experience. She is such a humble human being.
'I felt we were able to connect because of our cancer journeys and because of our kids. We were speaking about how our kids having to go through that as well and how they gave us the inspiration to keep pushing forwards.
'We had such a lovely chat. I was very, very nervous but she makes you feel very welcome. Her care and interest in hearing my story was huge for me.
'I forgot she was a princess and was speaking to her like any other cancer patient that has been on this ward. You all become friends, we are all part of the same community, and we were speaking like that not with her as the Princess of Wales.
‘That’s what it is like at the Royal Marsden, we are treated like human beings, not a number.’
Funds raised through the Princess's challenge will help enable the development of a new specialist Centre for Holistic Wellbeing and Recovery.
The funding will also support research into how these complementary approaches, alongside clinical care, can make a difference to every person with cancer across the UK.
During the visit, Her Royal Highness heard about progress for The Centre for Holistic Wellbeing and Recovery and saw the site where it will be built.
Catherine also met patients currently undergoing treatment, and heard how holistic care, integrating physical, emotional, spiritual and social wellbeing, can enhance recovery and healing.
Patient Sam explained that the princess announced her own cancer diagnosis when he was going through chemotherapy and radiotherapy.
‘I have two young daughters and they watched that and they just found it so inspiring. I was going through it and they didn’t really understand what I was going through. And then they saw this.
'For them it was a game changer in that they were inspired to keep fighting for me. She was a human being, a lady, a mother, a wife just being very honest about what she was going through.
‘The word is hope. That is what all of us in this cancer community find ourselves falling back to. We both has similar things happen when we were told what we were going through, the first things that came to our minds was our kids and our family.
Tags: Queen, Prince Charles, Camilla, Prince Louis, Prince William and Kate Middleton, Prince Charles, Prince Harry, Meghan, Lilibet
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