Our Story
The Amara Centre was born from lived experience.
After receiving a cancer diagnosis and treatment through the NHS in the United Kingdom, our founder experienced first-hand the financial pressures that can accompany cancer. As a single mother working on a zero-hours contract, she was managing everyday living costs alongside an uncertain income while undergoing treatment. While deeply grateful for the medical care she received, she became increasingly aware that many people experience significant financial hardship alongside their diagnosis and treatment.
During her own journey, she saw how quickly these pressures could accumulate. Travel to hospital appointments, household bills and other unexpected costs added to the financial demands of everyday life at a time when her circumstances were already changing significantly.
A defining moment came on the very day she received her NHS prescription card. Someone she knew in Ghana, who was also living with cancer, contacted her seeking financial help to purchase treatment medication. Unaware that our founder was undergoing cancer treatment herself, the individual reached out in hope of receiving assistance. Originally from Ghana and having kept her own diagnosis private, our founder provided the help they needed. The encounter made her think more deeply about the disparities in cancer experiences and the financial impact of cancer on people and families, wherever they may be.
She began to recognise that financial hardship is an important but often overlooked part of the cancer experience. Even where medical treatment is available, a cancer diagnosis can bring additional financial pressures through reduced income, travel, everyday living costs and other unexpected expenses. For many people, these pressures can arise from the very beginning of a diagnosis, making timely financial support particularly important.
This growing awareness shaped a resolve to help reduce the financial hardship that cancer can create for individuals and families.
The Amara Centre was established from that resolve.
Today, The Amara Centre focuses its work in the United Kingdom, with a clear focus on financial support, advocacy and awareness.
Our financial support work is centred on providing timely additional assistance during the early months following a cancer diagnosis, helping to ease some of the financial pressures that can arise alongside treatment and everyday living.
Alongside financial support, our advocacy and awareness work seeks to increase recognition of the financial impact of cancer, highlight gaps in support and encourage greater understanding of the financial realities faced by people affected by cancer.
We believe that financial hardship should not become an overlooked consequence of cancer. Through timely financial support, advocacy and awareness, we seek to reduce some of the additional financial pressures that can accompany a cancer diagnosis and keep financial wellbeing firmly within the wider conversation about cancer.