The 'Woolverstone Wish' has been granted

Up until very recently if you were living in Suffolk and were unfortunate enough to be suffering from cancer and in need of chemotherapy then you would have received your treatment in the old Woolverstone Wing of the Ipswich Hospital. With room for only 15 patient treatment chairs it was a small cramped space, impersonal and with no room for loved ones to be with you.

Seven years ago a small group of people including hospital staff, volunteers, patients and their loved ones had a strong desire to change this and they set up a fundraising group called the ‘Woolverstone Wish' with the aim of raising £800,000. Their will and determination to improve the facilities for the treatment of cancer patients enabled them to achieve their goal within five years. A fantastic achievement, not only to raise the money, but to successfully share their dream with the community and make Macmillan Cancer Support aware of the need for better facilities.

In 2014 the Woolverstone Wish fund was made up to £1million by The Ipswich Hospital Charitable Trust and they joined forces with Macmillan Cancer Support to set about raising a further £3.7 million to enable them to build a brand new £4.7 million treatment centre.

In just two years the new treatment centre was built and paid for, mostly by the generosity of the people of Suffolk. It is an amazing, fully functional place offering space, light and up-to-the-minute treatment facilities with privacy when it is needed. Twice as many people can be treated at any one time and they can be cared for in more comfortable surroundings with their loved ones by their side. Whilst no one wants to have to go through such treatment it is reassuring that it can now be undertaken in the best possible environment, and with the ability to treat twice as many patients at one time; the waiting list is down, as is the need to send people elsewhere.

So well done if you gave your time, put money in the pot, made a cake, drank some coffee, bought a raffle ticket, ran a race or some other fundraising event over the last seven years for either Woolverstone Wish or Macmillan Coffee Morning. You now know where your money went and that your contribution has made a tremendous difference. Please keep giving, as funds are still needed to provide specialist care, Macmillan nurses and those little extras that make a difference.

Christine Norman