In memory of Terry
For Jo Challinor and her family, being the face of the St Giles Christmas Raffle was just the first step in supporting the hospice after her dad Terry Clarke was cared for at Whittington.
Jo, mum Carole and sister Lisa had already raised thousands in memory of Terry through a charity cricket match, but decided to add even more to their total by sharing their story and selling dozens of raffle tickets.
Keen sportsman Terry was diagnosed with bladder cancer in January 2014 and despite extensive treatment, the cancer returned and late in 2016 the family were told nothing could be done. Terry spent the last six weeks of his life at St Giles in Whittington and Jo couldn’ t thank the hospice staff enough for the support the whole family received.
“ Dad felt so comfortable in the hospice – he loved the nurses and they worked hard to keep his pain under control and to keep him comfortable.”
“ In his last few days, Dad decided he wanted to go home, even if it was just for a night, and the nurses did everything to help us do that.”
“ The next day it was obvious that Dad was in a lot of pain so we took him back to the hospice and straightaway he relaxed. We stayed with him from then until he died, just a short time before Christmas.”
“ He was our hero and a true fighter until the end and we are so glad we could be there for him. We will never forget the support our family received from St Giles and every pound raised from the raffle goes to support people in the same situation, so we were delighted to spread the word and sell tickets.”
Lottery Manager Alison Jerram said,“ Raffles are a key part of our fundraising, as well as giving people a chance to win some amazing prizes. Our Christmas Raffle raised more than £ 88,000 which helps us support local people, like Terry, living with potentially terminal illnesses.”
We are so grateful to Jo and her family for their support, along with all the other people who buy and sell tickets to family and friends to support the hospice.
8,000 reasons to buy a ticket!
We really appreciate the support we get for our St Giles raffles – thank you to all of you who buy tickets and sell tickets for us. Our raffles bring in much needed funds for the hospice so that we can carry on supporting people in our community.
Of course there’ s another great reason to buy raffle tickets. In fact there are often thousands of good reasons, as the lucky winner of our Christmas Raffle, Royston Urwin from Bloxwich, found out.
Royston was surprised and delighted when he got the call to say he’ d won the £ 8,000 top prize.“ It was a real shock – I play to support the hospice, but you never expect to win,” he said.“ My family have received care from St Giles Walsall in the past, which is one of the reasons why I made the decision to support such a valuable local charity. I will be sharing my good fortune with my wife, Shirley, and will make a donation back to the hospice to help support St Giles’ work.”
We’ d like to say a massive thank you to everyone who gets behind our raffle – your amazing support makes a difference to every one of the families we care for. Tickets for our Summer Raffle will be sent in the post in the next few weeks and are on sale online now at www. stgileshospice. com / raffle
Summer Raffle 2018
£ 12,000 worth of prizes to be won including £ 8,000 or a brand new Kia Picanto!
Please gamble responsibly www. begambleaware. org
Tickets
£ 1
www. stgileshospice. com / raffle 15
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