FOR anyone facing the distress of a cancer diagnosis, support and understanding are vital.

Having a safe place where patients can seek the reassurance of others who have been through the same thing can prove invaluable.

And soon, thanks to the Daily Echo-backed Butterfly Appeal, this comfort will be available for people diagnosed with facial and neck cancers.

Back in September 2005, head and neck cancer charity About Face launched a campaign to raise £250,000 to create an About Face Centre in Poole.

The aim was to create a facility combining a state-of-the-art research and training centre, a fundraising office and a space for patients and families to meet and receive vital support.

Now, thanks to the generous donations and efforts of some 600 companies and organisations and individuals, as well as substantial support from a charitable trust, they have reached that target and bought a property opposite Poole Hospital.

But now the charity is asking supporters to redouble their efforts - to make up the £75,000 needed to turn this run-down property into a first-class home for the work of the charity.

Bournemouth-based businessman Michael LeFort knows better than most the difference such support can make to cancer patients.

He has been very involved with the charity after being diagnosed with cancer of the tongue in 2003.

Since then he has undergone surgery four times in which 95 per cent of his tongue was removed and rebuilt with tissue taken from his arms.

Against all the odds he has taught himself to speak again, and is determined to live his life as normal.

He said: "Not everyone is strong. They need some help, and that's where About Face comes in.

"They are there before and after surgery, to help patients and their families understand the problems.

"With all other cancers you can't see it - but with facial cancer some people are totally disfigured."

He added: "We want to help people be normal - to fight back."

Michael says his life was saved by the expert skills of consultant surgeon Velupillai Ilankovan, 54, who co-formed About Face just over a decade ago to provide one-to-one counselling for newly diagnosed patients.

He said: "The centre will make a dramatic difference. There is a social stigma with head and neck cancers.

"It can mean deformation and problems with swallowing and eating - day-to-day things we take for granted can all be compromised. Although the numbers are small, the patients have special needs."

As well as providing a support base, the centre will also house the Maxillofacial Study Suite for the training of young surgeons, who already come from around the world to work alongside Mr Ilankovan and his team of specialists.

But none of these things can happen without continued support, said trustee Ian Catley, who is leading the appeal.

Fundraising is already under way but £50,000 more is needed to completely refurbish, decorate and equip the building, which could be up and running by the late spring of this year.

He added: "I want to say a big thank you'.

"We are excited that today in Poole we have the bare shell just waiting to be repaired and dressed ready for the opening day. It's a pretty big task but we can conquer this.

"Let's rev up for the final lap - and do everything we need to do to offer patients and their families the service they need, in the comfort they need, to help them understand and talk about their own physical and emotional situation."

  • For more information about how you can help call 01202 733300 or 07917 400933.