"giving"

So today we returned as a family to the Breast Screening Unit at Altnagelvin Hospital, Londonderry, to present the staff with the total amount of money raised through my skydive and mum's coffee morning all those months ago. Our grand total was an incredible £3480!!!!

Thank you so much to everyone who donated!

We spent time with the staff trying to decide what would be the best way to spend the money and after much discussion we decided on improvements to the soft furnishings of the clinic. We were somewhat disappointed that we couldn't put the money towards new equipment for the unit, but the clinic itself needs a make-over comfort wise. Hard, plastic chairs, no tea/coffee facilities, etc make appointments at the clinic not a very comfortable experience for patients, especially when some appointments in the early days of diagnosis can last up to 3 hours! This is a clinic where a woman and her husband/partner/mother/sister, etc will spend a lot of their life over the course of a cancer treatment so it needs to be somewhere that feels even just a little bit more 'homely' rather than 'clinical'. Hospitals are never a nice place to be but a soft seat/sofa and a hot cup of tea can help a little!

Mum was a patient who with the help of this money, will now improve the 'experience' of current and future patients, based on what she experienced, and hopefully make it a more relaxed and comforting place to be for all involved.

# Giving Myself - Jennifer Hudson #