Workmates help to raise money to fund ward’s entertainment system
Ray Coleman’s work colleagues have helped to raise £250 which has funded improvements to the patient entertainment system on one of the wards at the West Suffolk Hospital.
The 56-year-old, who works at the F-35 Training School, at RAF Marham, in Norfolk, was instrumental in choosing the My WiSH Charity to receive the funds which were directed towards the Macmillan Unit, where he has been received treatment for Non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
He said music could only be heard in half the day treatment unit and so wanted to purchase something to help.
And staff at the training school bought special polo shirts emblazoned with the school’s charity emblem “One Team One Fight Against Cancer” at £20 each and wore them each Friday donating money to the fund.
Ray, who lives in Bury St Edmunds, was diagnosed with the illness back in January, and has had radiotherapy and chemotherapy treatment sessions at the West Suffolk and also at Addenbrooke’s Hospital, in Cambridge.
He said: “I’ve been a patient at the Macmillan Unit at the hospital in Bury St Edmunds since January and spent quite a of time there in the first six months of the year and I wanted to try and give something back.
“We buy the polo tops from the manufacturers and money from the sale of them goes into our charity fund.
“Once a year the bosses get together and decide who’s going to have the charity money and mine was chosen.
“When I was in the Macmillan Unit there was an old radio and if you sat near it it was quite loud but the further away you could not hear it so I thought it could do with an upgrade.”
Sally Daniels, fundraising manager for My WiSH Charity, met with Ray to thank him for supporting the unit, “It was great to meet Ray and say a personal thank you from the charity. Laura, the ward manager, was already thinking about buying a new radio so this donation couldn’t have come at a more perfect time. Thank you to everyone who donated”.
Written by Russell Cook for My WiSH Charity
Main photo: Ray Coleman presenting cheque to Sister Jade Hill from the Macmillan Unit