A donation of £2,000 has been given to the West Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust charity, My WiSH by the East of England Asbestos Patient Support Group to fund items to aid oncology/respiratory patients with equipment that will provide additional support to those receiving care and treatment at the West Suffolk hospital.

On Thursday 9th May members of the Bury St Edmunds group, fundraisers, Charity Trustee Councillor Patrick Chung and Charity Chair, Phoebe Osborne were greeted by Sally Daniels, Fundraising Manager at My WiSH, who took receipt of the cheque donation at the Southgate Centre where the group meet every second Thursday of the month.

Brian Wallis, who founded the charity which provides support to those undergoing treatment and beyond, and fundraises to support local services across Suffolk, Norfolk, Essex and Cambridgeshire said; “The East of England Asbestos Patient Support Group is a registered charity and the Trustees and supporters met recently at our AGM to discuss how to distribute the funds raised within the local community within which we operate. We decided to fund meaningful and needed equipment for patients at the West Suffolk Hospital as several of our members past and present rely upon the NHS hospital’s services and wish to give something back locally”.

“East of England Asbestos Patient Support Group charity was officially incorporated in 2022 when it was awarded registered charity status but many of the team of volunteers, patient/carers medical and legal professionals had been working to establish patient support services in the East of England region since 2014.

“At that time there were very few dedicated mesothelioma cancer services in Suffolk, Norfolk, Essex and Cambridgeshire and it is a great privilege for me to be associated with this fine group of people both as founder of East of England Asbestos Patient Support Group and past Ambassador of the national principal charity Mesothelioma UK, but also as advocate and Trustee of our regional charity. It was the wish of my late wife, an asbestosis sufferer and inspiration behind this movement, that, together with my former colleagues from the RAF in Suffolk and Norfolk, we should look upon her legacy as a means to redress the lack of mesothelioma/asbestosis support in the region, as was the case in 2013.

Sally Daniels My WiSH Fundraising Manager said; “It was a pleasure to meet Phoebe, Patrick and the rest of the group. This donation is so generous and will really help us make a difference to patients such as those the group supports. We can’t thank them all enough for supporting us”.