We are raising money for the Fletcher Ward, part of the Centre for Clinical Haematology at Nottingham City Hospital who are taking care of one of our much loved colleagues, Dave Turnbull, who has been treated for acute myeloid leukaemia.

Many of us completed some charity 10km runs last year when Dave was first diagnosed, and we were privileged to visit the Fletcher Ward in November 2018. We met some of the nurses who treated and cared for Dave and presented the charity with a cheque for just over £3,000 thanks to your kind donations. Dave was able to specify what he’d like some of the money spending on to improve patients comfort throughout their treatment – from memory, TVs and personal fridges in each room featured on the list! We really enjoyed having our favourite Geordie back in the office, towards the end of last year. Trentside wasn’t the same without him! 

Unfortunately, early in the new year we learned Dave’s cancer had returned, and the fight has been monumental this year. We’re more grateful than we can possibly put in to words, that Dave has undergone some serious and ground breaking treatments at Nottingham City Hospital thanks to their cutting edge research, and is now recovering well. 

Nottingham City Hospital Haematology Department’s transplant unit has been recognised as the very first centre of excellence in the country and one of the leading centres in Europe. Currently, over 150 patients are treated with transplants each year and many pioneering developments have been made, in particular the first ever successful transplant for leukaemia using stem cells harvested from the blood rather than the bone marrow. Dave received such treatment, donated from his sister. Dave is now on the long road to recovery, and we send our love to him and the whole Turnbull family. 

So, it feels right that we show our appreciation for the research and first class care once again. This time, we’ve upgraded our effort levels! We are collectively taking part in numerous running events in the next month or two and will be representing Nottingham University Hospitals in our pink-and-blue t-shirts all over Europe! These include the Robin Hood Half Marathon (Lou, Emily and Jon), the Tissington Half Marathon (Mary), Amsterdam Half (Dan), Portugal Half (Phil), the Derby 10-miler (Nath and Andrew) and the Forest & Moors Half Marathon in Dalby Forest, North Yorkshire (Cat). 

Any support you can show for our attempts-at-athleticism will be massively appreciated. It’s amazing to see exactly where our fundraising efforts go, and know they have genuinely helped. We wish Dave hadn’t had to rely on the hospitals amazing services twice, but for anyone else facing the same battle, anything we can do to show our support and appreciation is worth breaking a sweat for in our opinion!!

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