28 February, 2018
Cupcakes for Golau
This week I’ve been busy making cupcakes for a Cake Sale at Singleton Hospital Radiotherapy Unit, raising funds for Golau – South West Wales Cancer Foundation.
This is a charity close to my heart but one I hadn’t actually heard of before Greg’s diagnosis. The Golau Cancer Foundation is the cancer charity based in Singleton Hospital, where patients are referred for treatment from across South West Wales, covering an area from Bridgend to Aberystwyth. Over 45,000 patients are treated there every year and with 1 in 3 of us developing Cancer, very few of our lives will remain unaffected by the disease. Golau Cancer Foundation supports the work of the NHS, by helping to provide facilities, equipment, training and research above and beyond the normal scope of the NHS. With our support they can raise vital funds for the Chemotherapy Day Unit, Radiotherapy Unit and Cancer Treatment Wards, as well as new specialist equipment, education and training for staff, improved patient facilities and research, including clinical trials.
I’ve seen first hand the impact that these funds have had for patients, as Greg was a regular visitor to the Chemotherapy Day Unit. The money helps towards creating pleasant and comfortable surroundings for the patients, many of whom, like Greg, are sat for up to 8 hours at a time receiving medication. I’ll be eternally grateful to the staff at Singleton for managing Greg’s illness so well, allowing him to have a lot of quality time during the year he was receiving treatment. Their expertise and commitment kept Greg’s Cancer under control and their positive demeanours made the Day Unit a very uplifting place to be, which I thought was incredible.
So I try to do my bit to help raise funds for Golau. I know my strengths! Baking! They are unlikely to ever get me to run a marathon for them but if there’s ever a call for cake, I’m there! Like I mentioned earlier, I hadn’t heard of Golau prior to Greg’s illness but why would I have, with no experience of family members having had cancer treatment before. A lot of the well known Cancer charities (who all do excellent work) have much larger profiles with whole teams of fundraisers, this isn’t the case for Golau, so I try to help where I can. As a Policeman, Greg was always helping people and he continues to help others now by family, friends and colleagues raising funds in his memory. We asked for donations to Golau in lieu of flowers at his funeral and this raised well over £2000. A good friend of ours attempted a DECA Ironman (10 Ironman distance triathlons in 10 days!!!!!) and completed most of the challenge, raising a lot of money for Golau. A colleague of Greg’s recently ran the Llanelli half marathon in his memory, and others are planning challenges too. Last year I made copies of some paintings that Greg had produced during his illness and sold them for £10 each, raising over £700! He would be embarrassed to think that his art work is sitting proudly on many a mantelpiece in South Wales, but why not! They were lovely paintings, his friends now have a momento of him and it raised money. His legacy lives on.
So, back to cake! The St David’s Day Cake Sale takes place tomorrow (Thursday 1st March) at Singleton Radiotherapy Unit from 10am. It will be opened by the Lord Mayor and Swans legend, Lee Trundle.
I hope this post has raised awareness of Golau Cancer Foundation. If anybody would like to make a donation, you can do so online at www.justgiving.com/golaucancerfoundation
Website: www.golaucancerfoundation.wales.nhs.uk
Facebook: @golaucancer
Twitter: @GolauFoundation