A woman who has raised almost £175,000 for a hospital ward in memory of her daughter has visited Hull Royal Infirmary with her latest donation to help patients with brain tumours.
Ruth and Tony Knowles launched their fundraising campaign to support the Neurosurgical Department at Hull Royal Infirmary in 1998 after the death of their 22-year-old daughter Emma-Jayne.
The couple, of Sutton on Sea in Lincolnshire, were awarded the British Empire Medal in the New Year’s Honours List in 2014 and although Mr Knowles died last year, Mrs Knowles has continued their mission.
Mrs Knowles and her friends present their latest cheque to staff from Ward 40
Mrs Knowles visited Ward 40 at Hull Royal Infirmary, where Emma-Jayne was treated before her death, to hand over her latest cheque for £10,573, including donations made at Mr Knowles’s funeral on Tuesday. She also presented Mr Knowles’s British Empire Medal to the ward in recognition of the deep admiration and respect she holds for staff who’ve worked in Neurosciences at Hull Royal Infirmary.
Mr Chittoor Rajaraman and Mr Gerry O’Reilly, both Consultants in Neurosurgery, hosted a special celebration for Mrs Knowles and her friends along with Ward 4 and 40 Charge Nurse Paul Johnson and Ben Davison, Chief of Service for Neuroscience Specialist Care Group and other members of staff.
Mrs Knowles was also reunited with Caroline Paterson and Ronnie Milner, the nurses who looked after Emma-Jayne while she was on Ward 40.
Mrs Knowles told the Ward 40 team: “You are worth your weight in gold. There is no need to thank me. I do this because I love to do it.”
Sean Lyons, Chairman of Humber Health Partnership, said: “We are extremely grateful to Mrs Knowles for her unwavering support of our neurosurgical team. The money raised by Mr and Mrs Knowles has meant that, over these past 26 years since Emma-Jayne’s sad death, we have been able to purchase the latest technology to help us save patients’ lives and assist their recovery after surgery.”
Ruth Knowles presents her husband’s British Empire medal to Neurosurgeons Mr Chittoor Rajaraman and Mr Gerry O’Reilly
Emma-Jayne was admitted to Hull Royal Infirmary in April 1998 after an MRI scan confirmed she had a rare brain tumour affecting just one in 1.5m people. She underwent 35 radiotherapy sessions because the tumour was too deep in her brain for surgeons to operate but died in December 1998, six days before Christmas and two weeks before her 23rd birthday.
Her parents started fundraising at her funeral, raising £1,100. Since then, they have continued to make donations to the hospital through a variety of charitable events including a bikeathon, now an annual event, sponsored walks and running races.
Over the years, their donations have been used to purchase specialist equipment used by neurosurgeons to remove brain tumours, a reclining chair to assist patients during the initial stages of their rehabilitation and an iPad and applications for speech and language therapy. They’ve also funded an ophthalmoscope and otoscope, used to look in a patient’s eyes and ears following brain injury, a wheelchair and physiotherapy for patients to assist their recovery.
Emma Jayne Knowles, who died only days before her 23rd birthday