Trinity Hospice gets help from Mark
   
Fund raiser extraordinaire Peter Clay of Cleveleys Park Lodge No 7540 has made good a promise made by PrGM Peter Connolly to match fund sums raised by lodges in the North Fylde Group to help in supplying much needed items of medical equipment for hospitals in the Fylde.
Clinical Nurse Specialist Adele Simone receives the cheque from West Lancashire Mark Freemasons from Peter Clay.
As a result of this magnificent offer Peter Clay visited Trinity Hospice and presented a cheque for £300 from West Lancashire Mark Freemasons - which has been ring-fenced for a very special purpose.
 
At the recent launch of the defibrillator programme at Cleveleys Masonic Hall the PrGM presented Peter with a Coaguchek blood monitoring machine from the Mark degree for Blackpool Victoria Hospital and made his to match funding pledge.
 
Peter Clay has now set his sights on helping Trinity Hospice Lymphoedema Clinic after hearing a talk on the debilitating effects of lymphoedema given by Abby Baxter, the 12 year granddaughter of Jack Baxter the  WM of Biscopham Lodge No 7646 at the lodge’s ladies evening.
Pictured, from left to right at Trinity Hospice, are: Janet Atkins, Adele Simone, Peter Clay and Ann Baxter.
Jack whose wife Ann has been a sufferer of the condition since her teens and who has been the beneficiary of life changing treatment at the Trinity based Lymphoedema Clinic, proposed that the clinic would receive a £1,000 gift from the lodge’s fund raising efforts undertaken during his year in office. The cheque presentation will take at the North Fylde Group Giving Day in May.
 
At the evening event Peter learned that lymphoedema is a swelling that develops as a result of an impaired lymphatic system caused by the system not developing properly or as a result of damage or trauma. It can affect any part of the body but it is most commonly seen as swelling in the arms or legs.
 
Until relatively recently there were only limited options available open to people diagnosed with the illness and like Ann Baxter they were told they would have to live with this often distressing condition.
 
However with the committed efforts of Health Care Professionals like Adele Simone, a clinical nurse specialist at Trinity, and her small team of colleagues, effective treatments have become more widely available. Since the specialist clinic opened in 1993 Trinity now looks after some 550 outpatients and works tirelessly campaigning to raise awareness of the lymphoedema support available so more people can access successful treatment; and that the once held ‘nothing can be done’ attitudes can become a thing of the past.
 
Ann Baxter attests to the huge difference which the treatment and the self-care regime has made to her life - as do her fellow patients who attend the clinic whose ages range from six years old to 97 years old.
 
On the wish list for Trinity’s Lymphoedema Clinic is a Thor Laser costing £4,000 which has proved particularly effective elsewhere in the country and Adele and her team as well as Campaign and Lottery fundraiser Janet Atkins are working hard to raise the necessary funding.
 
Janet, on behalf of Trinity asked both Peter Clay and Ann Baxter to convey the hospice’s gratitude to West Lancashire Mark Freemasons and to the members of Biscopham Lodge for their generous and welcome donations which she said will go a long way to meeting the target for the coveted laser.
 

Story and Photographs Courtesy of Bob Boal