Lunch with Jenny Packham

On Wednesday 7^th June, more than 200 women attended ‘Lunch with Jenny Packham’ at The Carlton Tower Jumeirah in Knightsbridge.  

During the event, mother and daughter, Adrianne Morris and Gemma Wiseman moved guests as they spoke about how Chai supported their family through Gemma’s cancer journey. Gemma was diagnosed with bowel cancer in 2021.

Adrianne said: “At the start of 2021, my just turned 40-year-old daughter Gemma had been sent for some scans to discover the cause of back pains she’d been enduring since a bout of Covid. What I did not know was that my life, our lives, were about to be turned upside down. Gemma had been diagnosed with stage 4 bowel cancer that had spread to the liver. As a parent, it crosses your mind from time to time if they’re late or out of reach, that there might be an awful wrong place at the wrong time incident, but it never, ever, occurs to you that they might get cancer. Yet here we were, facing every mother’s nightmare – we held each other and cried – unable to believe what we had been told, looking at each other in disbelief at the sudden shocking news our family had received.”

Gemma said: “Receiving a cancer diagnosis out of the blue is beyond shocking. It rocks your whole world, and nothing can prepare you for the whirlwind that follows that life-changing moment when you hear those two words, “its cancer”. A number of people urged us to get in touch with Chai. I was fully aware of Chai, as in my younger years I was part of a committee who held charitable events to raise money for them. I broadly knew what they did but didn’t fully appreciate the extensive range of services that they provide. And never could my young and naïve self have imagined that 20 years later I would be benefitting hugely from their support.

Now Chai are one of the most important parts of ‘my army’. They have been there for me and my family throughout, providing a whole range of support – physically, emotionally and mentally. Chai have been there in ways I never even knew I needed. Whether it was how and what to tell our then 3 and 5 year old children; the invaluable counselling; the different complementary therapies to help the side effects of my surgery and chemotherapy; to the smiley faces that greet you when you enter the building; the amazing array of classes and opportunities for self-development and acceptance or to the massive, great big hug you feel like you’re receiving when you walk through the doors.

Chai made me feel like me again. No longer did I sit watching my husband and kids feeling like it was an out of body experience and that this was what it would be like when I was no longer around. I felt positive. I felt empowered. I felt well. I felt like me.”

Following a delicious lunch served by Ben Tenenblat and his team, Deputy Editor of The Telegraph Magazine, Naomi Greenaway, took to the stage with the iconic Jenny Packham. Jenny told Naomi about the A-list celebrities that have changed the course of her brand, why she mostly wears black and what inspired her to become a fashion designer. Jenny said: “My family were dressmakers and my mum would make anything she wanted to make so I think it was just innate that if you had spare time, you would make something. She was my inspiration and it just felt like second nature and at some point I realised that it could be a job.”

Jenny also shared a personal story about her mother’s breast cancer journey and only finding out, after she passed away. She said: “It’s so wonderful that you can be here and just talk about it. It wasn’t that long ago that people didn’t. When I was 16 and doing my O Levels my mum had cancer. We lived in a very small house and she completely hid it from me. My mum probably didn’t tell me because she thought I would be scared that maybe I would have it. Cancer was almost a word you couldn’t say, but now, because of organisations such as Chai, we are able to talk about it.”

Chai’s Chairman, Louise Hager, said: “What is becoming more apparent is that not only do our clients need support during treatment, but in many cases we are needed even more so when they get the ‘all clear’. Post treatment our clients often describe feeling as though their safety net has been whipped away, and they feel very vulnerable and uncertain. At Chai we provide a safe haven where every aspect of this new life can be addressed.”