Cancer patients from Moree and surrounds will be able to have access to equipment and tools to make their whole treatment journey more comfortable, thanks to a very generous donation to Moree Hospital’s Oncology Unit from the Moree Weebolla Bulls Ladies Day committee.
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At Moree Bulls home game against Barraba/Gwydir on Saturday, the Ladies Day committee presented Moree Hospital’s acute health service manager Bronwyn Cosh with a cheque for $30,000 to go towards the Oncology Unit.
The funds were raised at last month’s Ladies Day event – by far the most successful to date – which saw about 380 women fill the sidelines at Weebolla Oval.
Ms Cosh was overwhelmed by the size of the donation and the support the Oncology Unit has received and said the money will be spread across the whole treatment journey for cancer patients.
“It’s unbelievable, it means so much,” she said.
“What I’d like to do is buy iPads so people can learn about treatment online; there’s lots of education to do before they start chemotherapy.
“The social workers want to present patients with a care package with all the things needed when having treatment. For example when people lose hair, there can be scarves for women and we can also arrange wigs.
“We were originally only going to buy one set of ice gloves, but now we can get two sets of ice gloves – they help to prevent numbness in the fingertips during chemotherapy.”
Some funds will also go towards palliative care, as well as for staff to attend conferences and training, while some of the money will be put aside to spend in the future when the need arises.
Ms Cosh would like to thank the Ladies Day committee and the community for their “amazing generosity”.
“I’m just thrilled and the hospital is thrilled that the community feel they can donate it to us and trust it to us,” she said.
“I’m also really pleased it’s staying local.”
Ladies Day committee member Nicole Youngberry said the committee was thrilled to be able to donate so much to such a worthy local cause.
“It’s absolutely amazing, we’re still really overwhelmed with the amount of support we received from the community, especially in what are really tough times; it’s just amazing our community is still able to dig deep for causes that are so important,” she said.
“This money is staying in Moree and will benefit Moree residents and surrounding districts, which is really special.
“We’re really happy to hear that it’s going towards something that can be useful throughout the whole journey, from diagnosis to palliative care.”
Last year the committee donated $6,500 to The Black Dog Institute, and this year, with double the people, they expected their fundraising to also increase, but not so significantly.
“It’s definitely a lot more than we had anticipated,” Ms Youngberry said.
“Last year was bigger than we had anticipated. It was the first year this committee has got together to run a Ladies Day and have a bit of planning go into it.
“We were not expecting that many people last year and it doubled this year. And even though we doubled the number of people who attended, we were able to donate about five times more than last year.
“I think what made it possible was the fact it was staying in Moree and going to a local cause.”
The committee would like to thank all who contributed to making this year’s Ladies Day the best yet.
“A big thank you to all our local businesses who pitched in, not just monetary but also in-kind donations,” Ms Youngberry said.
“Thank you to all the ladies who attended and the generous rugby community who have been very supportive of getting this event up and running.
“We wouldn’t have been able to do this without all of these people supporting us.”