Northampton charity founder has helped others for years - Now she’s asking her community not to leave her alone
For years, Marta dedicated her life to helping others through crisis and hardship. Working within the Civil Service, she supported people at their most vulnerable — often in the darkest moments of their lives.
In 2011, she founded The Green Mile Foundation, supporting homeless migrants and displaced individuals in the UK. The charity’s work was recognised for its impact on the local community, including acknowledgement from Buckingham Palace.
In early 2025, Marta established a new non-profit organisation — the GiveFiveGiveLife Foundation — focused on helping people who struggle to access essential and often life-saving medical care, particularly when advanced treatment is unavailable or unaffordable in their home countries. The foundation’s first campaign successfully helped fund urgent brain surgery for a Turkish client.
Shortly afterwards, Marta was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer.
Marta’s case was reviewed by an international oncology specialist who identified serious gaps in the treatment options available to her.
As a result, she was advised to seek individualised immunotherapy options through specialist international hospitals. These treatments are privately funded, with costs currently estimated at around $50,000.
For the first time in her life, the founder of a charity built on helping others now needs help herself.
The GiveFiveGiveLife Foundation has launched a GoFundMe campaign to support Marta’s access to potentially life-extending treatment.
Support Marta here: https://gofund.me/cb65e9d20
Despite exhausting treatment and a terminal diagnosis, Marta remains actively involved in the foundation’s work — sharing her knowledge, supporting partners and continuing to help others for as long as her health allows.
Her story is not only about illness, but about how unequal access to advanced care can change lives — and how community support can help bridge that gap.
For those who would like to follow updates or support the foundation’s work, more information can be found here:
GiveFiveGiveLife Foundation: https://www.facebook.com/GiveFiveGiveLife
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/givefivegivelife_foundation/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@givefivegivelife