A donation to Withybush Hospital from Pride of Britain nominee, Letterston's Luke Harding, means that the hospital will be one of the first in Wales to adopt a new international programme which could revolutionise the treatment of lung cancer.
Luke, who was diagnosed with lung cancer and a secondary brain tumour late last year, has tirelessly fundraised for Withybush Hospital since his diagnosis. He aims to donate £20,000 to Withybush’s Ward 10 by the end of this year and recently ran the Cardiff half marathon to raise funds. He also plans to complete the Pembrokeshire Coast Path and has organised many other events as part of #teamharding.
“I was approached by Kirsten Whatling and Dr Gareth Collier at Withybush to see if #teamHarding would like to donate an iPad to roll out this new online programme which is going to change and revolutionise lung cancer and how it’s recorded/documented,” said Luke.
“Obviously from day one this has all been about raising awareness for lung cancer and giving it the attention it deserves. So for me it was a no brainer.
“The fact that we were able to get it imprinted with the slogans/hashtags that we are using throughout my campaign means that regardless of my outcome there will always be something that #teamHarding did that made a difference to the bigger picture at Withybush General Hospital and I’m very proud to be part of that.”
Dr Gareth Collier added:
“We would like to thank Luke for his generosity in providing the iPad to the rapid access lung clinic at Withybush General Hospital. This will allow us to participate in an exciting new development for lung cancer patients.
“This is the Welsh assembly’s Patient Reported Outcome Measurement programme combined with the International Consortium of Health Outcomes Measurement.
“For the first time we will be able collect and measure outcomes such as breathlessness, cough, pain or ability to wash and dress that are important to patients and crucially compare our performance against other centres in Wales and internationally, allowing us to learn from the best centres in the world.
“Thanks to Luke’s donation Withybush hospital will be one of the first in Wales to adopt this programme.”
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