Patient’s family asks residents to support Severn Hospice campaign
The daughters of a Shropshire woman who recently lost her battle with cancer are urging people to get behind a fundraising campaign for the charity that cared for her.
Jan Bent, of Priorslee in Telford, passed away last month after a four-year fight against the disease.
Severn Hospice Telford helped care for Jan during her last few months, both as an inpatient and a day hospice patient.
Now Jan’s daughters Josie and Keli Waterhouse are asking local residents to support the hospice’s work by taking part in the charity’s Forget-me-not Raffle.
Jan featured at the heart of a mailing sent out to 50,000 homes across the region asking people to buy tickets for the annual prize draw, which helps fund the care and support provided by Severn Hospice to people living with life-threatening illness.
The mailing pack included a moving letter from Jan, which she wrote just weeks before she died as a thank you to the hospice nursing team who supported her during her time on the wards, as well as a photo of her taken in the Severn Hospice Telford grounds.
With the raffle’s closing date of July 1 approaching, Josie and Keli said people should think about buying a ticket for the bumper draw.
Josie, of The Rock in Telford, said: “Words cannot describe the care our mum received at the hospice. She felt so at home there and the staff were like a second family.
“Mum was so relaxed and happy during her time at the hospice and they made our family feel at home when we visited her. I’ve got young children so being able to visit mum in such a homely environment helped them a lot.
“My eight-year-old daughter used to have a lot of sleepovers at mum’s house so she was thrilled when she was allowed to stay over for the night with mum in her room at the hospice.
“Without the money raised from things like the Forget-me-not raffle, Severn Hospice wouldn’t be able to provide the vital services that they offer to people like our mum.
“My sister Keli and I have both bought our raffle tickets and we hope other people will consider buying one too to support the hospice.”
Lucy Proctor, Severn Hospice’s community fundraising manager, said: “Everyone at the Hospice was terribly sad to hear Jan had passed away.
“Jan was very keen for us to use her story in a positive way and was very proud to have her words as the focal point of such an important fundraising campaign as our Forget-me-not raffle.
“We are incredibly grateful to Jan and her family for their willingness to be a part of this campaign. We hope that the letter and photo are a fitting tribute to her memory and that they will help us raise vital funds to carry on providing care and support to people like Jan.”
Tickets for the raffle, which has a grand prize of a brand new Mini First car, cost £1 each and are available by calling Severn Hospice’s lottery department on 01743 261505. All tickets must be purchased before the closing date of July 1.
