Families donation funds to buy more comfortable chairs for Sandra Chapman Centre

On Tuesday 4 October staff at the Centre, which provides care and support to patients with malignant and non-malignant conditions, including blood disorders and cancers, had two special visits.

The first was from Susan Julings and the family of Tracey Hood, including Tracey’s daughter and granddaughter Kirsty and Summer Ward (pictured), her husband Martin Hood and her son-in-law Johnny Ward, who handed over more than £7,300 to the Centre. The amazing amount was collected through a number of fundraising initiatives, including an afternoon tea event and choir performances by the Coastline Singers.

Tracey was a patient who used the centre before she passed away and her friends and family decided to gather all the funds raised from the variety of different events together to hand over the exceptional total.

This money - £7,321.90 - has been used to purchase three of the new chairs which recline, lift up and can go instantly to a flat position – providing additional comfort and a number of options for optimising treatment.

The second visit of the afternoon was from Lynn Attreed. Lynn’s husband Peter had been a regular visitor to the Centre over the nine years he received treatment, becoming a familiar face to staff.

Lynn and Peter’s sons Ross and Scott came along to the hospital to hand over more than £1,500 towards the purchase of another of the chairs in Peter’s memory after he sadly passed away recently. A thousand pounds was donated by Lynn and the rest came in via donations from friends and family.

Lynn told staff at the Unit; “Peter loved you all so much and we are grateful for all the extra years you gave him with the amazing care. You are all angels in our eyes.”

The chairs purchased with these generous donations will bear plaques with Tracey and Peter’s names on.

We’d like to say a huge thank you to everyone involved in these donations – particularly Tracey and Peter’s families.

Sandra Chapman Centre Senior Sister Liz Alyward said; “These chairs make such a difference to patients – they are a real luxury and provide a far more comfortable place to receive chemotherapy and other treatments. They also help staff – if we need to move a patient into a flat position this can be done much more quickly and the chairs move to a more vertical position which helps patients to get up too. The chairs even have their own built-in table for patients to have a drink or use for an activity.”

Maxine Taylor, James Paget University Hospital Charity Co-ordinator, said; “We’re really grateful to everyone who contributed and the plaques on these chairs will ensure Tracey and Peter’s names are remembered. The lives of future patients will be made easier thanks to this generosity and we thank Tracey and Peter’s families and friends for their support for our hospital charity.”