Staff member praises colleagues for mother's cancer care

A hospital staff member has praised her UHNM colleagues for the care and compassion given to her late mother during her cancer battle.

Emma Harper, who works as a senior operating department practitioner in the Royal Stoke’s hub theatres, donated the proceeds of her mum Angela’s funeral to UHNM Charity.

Emma donated £415 to Ward 201 at the Royal Stoke’s Cancer Centre where Angela passed away aged 70 following a year-long battle with oesophageal cancer.

 She said: “My mum had a year-long battle with oesophageal cancer. She had chemotherapy for six months, and was determined to fight it, but unfortunately the cancer spread and she spent her last days in the Cancer Centre.”

“The care she received was second to none, so that was the reason for donating the proceeds of the funeral to UHNM Charity whilst giving some well-deserved recognition to Ward 201.”

“I’ll never, ever forget the care that she received and the fact they let me be active part of it all. Neither will my dad John, who they let stop with me when mum was too ill to be moved.”

“It enabled me to see first-hand that despite the strains we’re working under here, that didn’t reflect in the care at all, and it made me proud to work here.”

“The teamwork changed my whole perspective on UHNM. After I came back to work following caring for my mum and the stress that came with it, it’s made me move forward in a different way.”

“I couldn’t name just one or two individuals that I’d like to single out to thank- there was so many people that made a difference. And it was nice that when I did go back to visit the ward to see them they remembered her, and they remembered her name, which considering how many patients they deal with that meant a lot to me.”

“We had our ups and downs, we had good days and bad days, but they were just lovely with her. Plus they gave us endless cups of tea which helped!”

“They were just lovely. When the cancer nurse came over and told us it wasn’t good news, and she’d only got days left with us, it was a shock because we thought she’d be coming home with a drain. Their empathy and their care was just unbelievable.”

“At her funeral we said no flowers, we would prefer donations to the charity. It was £450 in the end which we were bowled over with.”