Nancy Blaik
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30 May 1936
Nancy Blaik | |
|---|---|
| Born | Nancy Geekie 30 May 1936 Wallyford, East Lothian |
| Died | 10 May 2025 (aged 88) |
| Known for | volunteering and fundraising for Children's Hospices across Scotland |
| Spouse(s) | Jack Blaik, OBE |
| Children | Daniel Blaik, born 1977, died 2009 |
| Honours | MBE |
Nancy Blaik, MBE (30 May 1936 – 10 May 2025), charity volunteer and founder of the first children's hospice in Scotland.[1][2][3]
Born Nancy Geekie in Wallyford, East Lothian, to parents Agnes and Angus Geekie, she had two siblings Christina and James, and grew up in Canonmills, Edinburgh where she was educated until the age of 15. Blaik was blind from childhood and after her schooling, she became an office assistant to the National Farmers Union, before working as an audio typist at the University of Edinburgh Medical Microbiology Department.[1]
She was one of the people studied from birth in the University of Edinburgh research group Lothian Birth Cohorts −1936.[4]
Later life and family
She married Jack Blaik, a social worker, and in 1977 and had a son Daniel, who was diagnosed at the age of two with Leigh syndrome (subacute necrotizing encephalomyelopathy) a severe, and progressive, neurological disorder and who was only able to move his eyes and mouth.[1] Blaik became a full-time carer for her son and started volunteering for charity Children Living with Inherited Metabolic Diseases (CLIMB). She and Jack obtained occasional respite care for Daniel at Martin House, children's hospice in Yorkshire, involving a lot of travel as there was no equivalent facility in Scotland.[5]