“I ran to say thank you for looking after my nanny”
Rebecca Balsdon wanted to find a way to say thank you to Derriford Hospital staff for their care and support of her nanny, Christine Gage, who sadly passed away in 2015.
She decided to run the Plymouth 10k race on 8 October in earlier this year and asked for friends and family to sponsor her. In total Rebecca raised £560, which she has donated to the Renal Dialysis Unit in memory of Christine.
“The Dialysis Unit was a massive part of my nanny’s life, keeping her alive with weekly visits to have her dialysis to help to treat her kidney failure”, explains Rebecca. “I wanted to raise as much money as possible to give back to the amazing team, from the doctors and nurses, down to the transfer team who took my nanny to and from her dialysis every week. She made life-long friends at the unit who made her treatment bearable.
“It was the first time I’d ever run longer than a mile so it was quite hard. But I’m already planning to do something else next year like sky-diving or the muddy fun run, as I’d like to continue to raise more money for the unit”, adds Rebecca.
Wai Tse, Consultant Nephrologist, met Rebecca on Monday to thank her in person for her donation. “It’s absolutely amazing what you’ve done, and very kind of you to think of us”, she said.