Treating more than 44,000 patients each year, 26% of our patients are referred here from hospitals across the UK. Every year, there are more than 6,500 patient journeys from the East Cheshire area which fall beyond the recommended travel time.

For those patients who live furthest away, coming to The Christie can mean a journey time of two hours or more. This puts tremendous pressure on them and their families at a time when they are already dealing with emotional stress of a cancer diagnosis.

The people of Macclesfield and surrounding communities are being urged to support The Christie charity to raise £23 million to build a state of the art new cancer centre in the grounds of Macclesfield District General Hospital.

Vicky Gaunt is a current patient who travels over 107 miles from Ludlow for treatment at The Christie in Withington and Trudi Harsum is the wife of patient Paul Harsum who has a round trip of 139 miles from Telford for treatment.

Vicky Gaunt said: My care at The Christie has been outstanding and I know I'm in the best place, but having to travel so far is very tiring. Its very stressful for my family and I having to travel such a long distance from home. A centre in Macclesfield would make a huge difference to patients like me.

Dr Andrew Sykes from The Christie said: Whilst patients and families are prepared to travel to The Christie for specialist services, we also understand that in reality many would prefer to have those services locally where possible.

The new centre in Macclesfield will provide the highest standard of cancer care for people in East Cheshire, but far closer to their homes than we have ever offered before.

The new centre will transform cancer care in East Cheshire, providing Christie cancer care closer to home for more than 1,500 new patients a year. It will bring together essential cancer services into one purpose-built unit delivering local specialist access to radiotherapy, chemotherapy, holistic support and information services, outpatient care, palliative care - and clinical trials.

While some cancer care is currently available in Macclesfield, many patients travel to The Christie in South Manchester for the majority of their appointments. This can mean a journey time of two hours or more which puts tremendous pressure on patients and their families at an already stressful time.

It is expected there will be around 40,000 patient visits each year to the centre, including patients from areas of Cheshire, North Staffordshire and the High Peak area of Derbyshire.

Planning for the new centre has taken into account East Cheshires ageing population and the predicted increase in demand for specialist cancer services in future years. The centre would be purpose built to meet the needs of frail people and those with cogitative impairment (difficulty remembering, learning new things and concentrating) or dementia, with additional grab rails, high colour contrast walls, day and night clocks, calming environments, large signage, and fall reduction measures. Staff will also have frailty and cognitive training.

All patients would undergo a frailty assessment to identify those most in need of extra support. Dieticians, occupational therapists, physiotherapists, radiographers, nurses, dementia and social care specialists will work with doctors to help more patients to complete treatment.

The vision for the new centre is that it will deliver more than 15,000 radiotherapy treatments every year and there will be 18 treatment chairs to deliver more than 4,000 chemotherapy treatments a year.

For further details of how you can support The Christie Cancer Centre at Macclesfield fundraising appeal, go to www.christies.org/macclesfield