An Island woman from Lake has raised a staggering £32,185 for St Mary’s Hospital Cancer Care service following a 16-month long fundraising campaign.
Anne Taylor, 68, started her momentous fundraising challenge in December 2015 and has been hard at work ever since organising a wide range of other events, held mostly at Shanklin Conservative Club, including: a black and white ball; dinner dance; Valentines dance; murder mystery night; Pamper Day; Kids Day, as well as street fairs, school Christmas Fairs, a variety night at the Riverside Centre and various other events.
In addition to all of the above, Anne also wrote to a wide range of Island clubs and associations many of whom supported her by making generous donations. These included Shanklin Rotary which donated £4,000, various Masonic lodges which donated several thousand pounds between them and Tesco in Ryde which helped raise over a £1,000 from a raffle in their store.
The money – which exceeded all targets – will now be able to fund a new ultrasound scanner and vein finder to help in the care of cancer patients across the Island.
Anne, a volunteer driver for Optio, was inspired to raise the money simply by her strong belief in helping other people and a wish to raise money for those receiving cancer care on the Island. Her efforts have been all the more remarkable when – during the course of her campaign – her husband Bob was also diagnosed with cancer and found himself needing the support of the Isle of Wight NHS Trust’s Cancer Care team.
Anne said:
“I am extremely grateful for the support and generosity of everyone involved in helping me to raise this money. I have been particularly touched by some of the individuals who have given donations even when they didn’t have much in the way of money themselves.
“Cancer is something that affects so many people and I’m really pleased that we were able to raise this money to help fund such a vital piece of equipment.”
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Lead Cancer Nurse Anne Snow said:
“We are overwhelmed by Anne’s generosity and her fantastic donation. The money she has raised will enable us to purchase a new ultrasound scanner which will help with the early diagnosis and treatment of patients and support chemotherapy assessments for inserting arterial and venous lines for patients receiving cancer care across the Island.”
