Last night I was asked to speak at the Cancer Support Group meeting at Hexham Hospital. It was a privilege to be asked and to be in the company of such a brave bunch of men and women, who each had extraordinary tales of their battles with cancer. We spoke at length and then discussed local and regional Health Policy. Line of the night was one lady who described her ongoing treatment with great fortitude before finishing by saying " At least I am still looking down at the daisies not up".
Then on to the Freeman Hospital today: they had great news with the recent survey as reported in the Journal: http://www.journallive.co.uk/north-east-news/todays-news/2011/08/24/north-east-children-s-heart-unit-receives-strong-support-61634-29292801/
I had a good meeting with the Chief Executive and Chairman of the Foundation Trust and then was lucky enough to go round the Childrens Heart Unit, meeting the doctors and their teams, who do such an amazing job there. Bumped into Graham Wylie, who has personal experience of the Unit, through his daughter - he has done a great deal to support and promote the Unit. It was a very moving 24 hours.
