This page is dedicated to some of the amazing people who have made significant and lasting contributions to the development of Yes to Life during the last two decades. Their contribution to making Yes to Life what it is today has been truly inspirational, a debt that should not go unacknowledged.
Claire came to Yes to Life right as the fledgling charity was being established, having left a successful career in business marketing to retrain and work in sports massage. Extended contact with many clients, discussing their health difficulties led her to the awareness that all was not well in healthcare, and that change was urgently needed.
This prompted Claire to respond to an advert from Yes to Life which led to her appointment as the charity’s first Executive Director. Personal circumstances subsequently led her to move to Australia and the US before returning to the UK, but this didn’t prevent her remaining involved as a Trustee and passionately supporting the work of the charity and protecting its mission and ethos for more than a decade.
Yes to Life and its thousands of beneficiaries owe an enormous debt to Joanie for her ‘above and beyond’ input to the charity, firstly as an early Executive Director for three years, and then as Trustee for a further eight.
As Executive Director, Joanie played a foundational role in establishing the integrity of the fledgling organisation, introducing sound principles of governance, financial management and operations. As Trustee, she has assiduously defended that integrity throughout the charity’s development from pioneer outsider to thought leader.
Joanie retired from the Board in the last quarter of 2019. Though she will be sorely missed, she will remain enormously loved for her unique and outstanding contribution.
Katharine takes the credit for singlehandedly creating and maintaining the content of our important LIFE Directory for a decade – a labour of love, all on a voluntary basis.
Starting in 2012, Sue devoted eight years to Yes to Life as inspirational Executive Director, building and spearheading the charity’s development, followed by a period as Vice-chair of the Trustees. Fuelled by her passion for choice in healthcare, her interest in natural medicine and the many tragic losses to cancer that she personally experienced amongst her circle of friends, she never hesitated to go the extra mile for the cause.
During this period she built up many of the charity’s core services, strengthened its governance and systems, developed a social media presence and founded the highly appreciated Wigwam Support Group scheme. Without Sue’s heartfelt input, Yes to Life would not be where it is today.
Other content on this website featuring this person or provider: Radio Show: The Charity Yes to Life 11 Jun 2017
For many years Sophie was a Patron and a staunch supporter of Yes to Life. She saw the charity as a lifeline for people with cancer. “This charity has so many benefits for cancer patients, but what I love most is that it supports us to direct our own treatment and make our own choices. We often get caught in the crossfire between orthodox medicine and complementary health, but Yes to Life helps people to take the complementary medicine route if they so choose, while providing vital information about best practice (and practitioners) in the process. It is also led with love, commitment and a deep understanding of how painful this experience can be.”
Sophie died in the Autumn of 2021, but not before changing the discussion around cancer forever. She became a bestselling author, speaker, facilitator and patient activist. Following an incurable cancer diagnosis in 2014, Sophie became a passionate patient activist, helping cancer patients around the world to navigate the emotional challenges of the disease and take charge of their own treatment.Her first book, ‘The Cancer Whisperer’, is an international bestseller that has had a significant impact on patients around the world. Her second book, ‘Lifeshocks: And how to love them’, is about how to harness the transformative power of the unwanted and unexpected moments in our lives. She called these moments ‘lifeshocks’. Sophie continued to share her own deeply personal story as well as other case studies in a groundbreaking book about how to unleash our creativity in our darkest hours – be they related to cancer, bullying, sexual assault, addiction, rejection or simply finding your path through the world.
Through numerous appearances on national radio, including Woman’s Hour and a BBC World Service documentary, as well as television appearances with presenters such as Lorraine on ITV, Sophie broke new ground on how to deal with a cancer diagnosis.
Find out more about Sophie In memory of Sophie Memorial Radio Show: The Cancer Whisperer by Sophie Sabbage
Other content on this website featuring this person or provider: Radio Show: What I Can For As Long As I Can 15 Oct 2021 Radio Show: The Cancer Whisperer 29 Jan 2017 Radio Show: My Beautiful Brain 14 Jun 2015
Clare joined the team as long ago as 2007, initially taking part in a pioneering initiative to provide people with cancer with an integrative medicine mentor to support them.
She went on to become a bastion of our key Helpline service and then to join the Board of Trustees in 2017.
As a Trustee she led the development of our now well-established and core Wigwam Support Group programme, steering it skilfully and with immense dedication through the challenges of lockdown. She also started our Wellbeing Sessions, a programme that has gone on to be a great success thanks to Clare’s dedication and commitment.
Clare is leaving us for personal reasons, confident that the charity is in safe hands, but our hope is that she won’t stray too far, as she will be missed! We are immensely grateful for her unstinting generosity in supporting our mission.
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