A former employee has thanked staff at Cumbria, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust (CNTW) for donating items for care packages.
Hayley Cadman worked for the Trust until September 2019 when she left to begin a role as a community learning disability nurse. It wasn’t long after leaving CNTW that Hayley’s health started to deteriorate and resulted in her going on sick leave.
Hayley was diagnosed with Stage 2 Hodgkin’s Lymphoma and began treatment in February this year. She said: “When Coronavirus hit, I needed to shield which left me feeling isolated and my mental health really suffered.”
To keep her mind occupied, Hayley decided to put together care packages for newly diagnosed patients.
“I came up with the idea while being treated for neutropenic sepsis,” she explained. “I found doing something positive really helped my mood and kept me focused during the low points of my treatment.
“I wanted to be able to do something to help make others’ recovery journeys more bearable.”
Former colleague Tanya Walker, a nursing assistant on Lindisfarne Ward at Northgate Hospital, heard about Hayley’s efforts and got in touch to see if they could help.
“I was absolutely blown away by the amount of items donated from CNTW secure services,” Hayley said. “The generosity and kindness shown has been truly humbling and I can’t thank the service enough.”
The care packages have been delivered to oncology day units in Alnwick and Wansbeck. Hayley also set up a funding page to purchase any remaining items and any money left over was donated to Maggie’s Centre which provides ongoing support for those with a cancer diagnosis.
CNTW is a leading provider of mental health and learning disability services. Find out more about job opportunities in the Trust’s secure services here.