A WOMAN with cancer is fundraising to kit out a chemotherapy ward with new equipment.
Hilary Coleman, from Bournemouth, has launched a Go Fund Me page to raise money for new recliner chairs at the Jigsaw Unit in Royal Bournemouth Hospital.
The ward currently has four reclining chairs for patients across its ten bays, but Hilary wants to provide two more, which will cost around £1,900 each.
Going through chemotherapy herself, she understands how essential comfort is during treatment.
Hilary said: “I’ve had chemo twice, and you sit in a bolt upright chair and it’s really uncomfortable. I’m there from 11am till 6pm some days.
“I had a comfortable recliner chair the other day. To be able to put my feet up and close my eyes was just amazing. It's so important for people to be able to relax as they have chemo.
“I asked ‘why have you only got a few of these?’ They said they couldn’t afford to buy them.”
It was at that moment Hilary decided to set up the Go Fund Me to raise funds and buy the recliners herself.
By February 5, and just four days after its launch, the page had reached £2500 in donations - giving Hilary enough for one chair.
Hilary said: “I sat there, literally as I was having chemo and started a Go Fund Me page.
“Four days later I’ve got enough for one chair. Random people have been donating. I’ve asked people on Facebook and Twitter, and friends of friends are helping.
“I’m so blown away by everyone’s generosity. Its lovely.
“To do something, and take my mind of the cancer, its therapeutic for me.”
After reaching £2,500 in donations, Hilary wrote on the Go Fund Me page: “Amazing news. We’ve done it guys, I raised my total today of £2,500 for an amazing reclining chair for the Jigsaw Unit at the Royal Bournemouth Hospital.
“I want to try and keep going to get a second chair.”
To donate to Hilary’s Go Fund Me page visit https://www.gofundme.com/f/reclining-chairs-for-chemo-patients?utm_campaign=p_cp+share-sheet&utm_content=undefined&utm_medium=copy_link_all&utm_source=customer&utm_term=undefined
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