Grateful Ward 19 patients raises £3,000 thanks to garden spectacular
Helen Jenner has been raising money for Ward 19 at Heartlands Hospital for the past five years, following her diagnosis with acute myeloid leukaemia in March 2014.
Every year, with the help of her friends and family, Helen holds a garden party, at her home in Tamworth, with a buffet lunch in the style of an afternoon tea to raise funds for Ward 19 and Macmillan. This year’s event saw 100 people come along to enjoy an afternoon of sandwiches, cakes, nibbles and tea and coffee.
Helen put on a wonderful lunch for her guests to enjoy.
Helen laid on plenty of entertainment for her guests, including a picture quiz and a competition to guess the number of sweets in a jar. Helen raised a fantastic £1,750 on the day, to be shared by the two charities. Thanks to very generous donations from two of her friends, the final total raised for Heartlands Hospital Charity’s Ward 19 fund was an incredible £3,000.
Helen does not limit her fundraising to the annual afternoon teas, as she sells homemade cakes and marmalades, jams and chutneys to her friends and fellow choir-members throughout the year.
Speaking of the treatment that she received on the ward, Helen said: “They are a grand team on Ward 19, they were all so nice to me throughout my treatment. I am sure that the money that I have raised will help them to provide even more for people like me who require their expert treatment.”
Thankfully, Helen’s leukaemia is in complete remission, and she made a visit to Ward 19 to present the cheque to Manos Nikolousis and Kathy Holder, and was joined by her friends Julie, Liz, Helen, Judy and Mike, who all helped her fundraising efforts.
Sian Averill, Fundraising Manager at Heartlands Hospital Charity, said: “Our thanks go to Helen for her continued fundraising efforts. She has raised a fantastic amount of money, and we are so grateful for her ongoing support.
“The money that she has raised will allow Heartlands Hospital Charity to provide even more ‘added extras’ for the patients on Ward 19. We are currently raising funds to complete a renovation of the Ward, which will see the décor updated, creating a more modern, comfortable place to be treated. It is only thanks to fundraisers like Helen that we are able to do this.”
You can find out more about Ward 19 here.
