Plans afoot for new juice bar in west end of city to help cancer sufferers

Jun 21 2012 By Emma Smith

Maz Carruthers Image 1

A WOMAN who has overcome ovarian cancer twice is planning to open a juice bar to help fellow cancer sufferers.

Maz Carruthers, 34, has undergone three operations and a dose of chemotherapy which almost killed her.

But despite responding brilliantly to treatment earlier this year, doctors have told her it is only a matter of
time before the cancer returns.

Unwilling to give in, Maz has a vision to open an organic juice bar in or near the Beatson cancer centre at Gartnavel Hospital.

She hopes this will give people getting treatment the option of making healthier food choices.

Maz also intends her juice bar, Boost, to be a social enterprise project that will help those taking a break from work because of cancer to get back into employment.

She said: “I might have about six months before the cancer returns, though hopefully not, and I am
determined to get Boost up and running in that time.

“It makes sense to me to give your body all the help it can get when it is dealing with cancer – and having organic, healthy choices is one way of doing that.

“When I first got ill, I realised that if I can make myself feel better and more able to deal with cancer and its treatments through what I eat, then I would try to eat more healthily.

“It helped me and I hope I can now give others the opportunity to make the same choices with a bit more ease.”

As a regular user of Maggie’s Cancer Caring Centres, Maz is also a supporter of the charity’s “pop-up” centre that will come to Glasgow for the first time later this month.

It will be at Buchanan Galleries on June 28 and 29 and St Enoch Centre on June 30 and July 1, offering the public a first-hand look at what a Maggie’s Centre can do for someone with cancer.

Maz said: “Discovering Maggie’s was just lovely – it was like walking into someone’s house with a really lovely atmosphere.

“The people are friendly, you feel welcome and you can have space if you want it or you can speak to
someone about your fears and what you are feeling if that’s what you want.

“It really is up to you how many of Maggie’s services you take up, such as the Tai Chi or Living with Less
Stress course which I loved, or you can just come and have a cup of tea.

“I can’t say how much Maggie’s have done for me.”