A kind-hearted eleven-year-old girl took on ten of Wainwright’s ten highest peaks to raise money for Bay Hospitals Charity and the Special Care Baby Unit (SCBU) at Furness General Hospital (FGH).
Kendal-born Cora Barker, who lives near Keswick in the Lake District and is a pupil at Threlkeld primary school said: “I decided to walk Wainwright’s top ten for Bay Hospitals Charity because I wanted to do something special whilst I was ten years old as a way of saying thank you to all the doctors and nurses at the hospital in Barrow for making me better when I was a baby.”
Bay Hospitals Charity is a registered charity that raises funds and supports UHMBT’s five hospital sites, including Furness General Hospital. Donations made to the charity go to providing those extras that go ‘above and beyond’ what the NHS is currently able to support to help make the hospital experience better or improve outcomes for local people.
Money is used to fund additional medical equipment, specialist training for staff and also goes towards improving the physical hospital environment.
Cora continues: “When I was born my mummy said I had something called E-Coli in my blood. She told me I was very poorly and that I had to be taken from the Westmorland General Hospital in an ambulance to the hospital in Barrow. I had to stay in the hospital for a few weeks but I’m better now.”
Cora, along with her mum Louise, dad Jim and big brother Arlo completed all of Wainwright’s top-ten peaks during a ten-month period between March and November last year, scaling Skiddaw, Bowfell, Helvellyn, Nethermost Pike, Castycam, Pillar, Great Gable, Great End, Scafell and Scafell Pike.
To date, Cora has raised more than £1,000 in sponsorship money. Cora also raised nearly £100 from a raffle with family and friends at the annual Mungrisdale Village Hall quiz night.
Cora continues: “It was really nice to meet Heather, Heidi and some of the nurses at the hospital and I am happy that I managed to raise so much money for the charity. Heidi gave me some sweets and a nice thank-you card and Heather even gave me a tour of the new South Lakes Birth Centre. Mummy said the unit where women have their babies now looks so different to when I was a baby.”
Heather Wood, Matron for Children and Young People at Furness General Hospital, adds: “It was lovely to meet Cora on the unit this week and to tell Cora how we hope to use the money she has raised to purchase additional breast-feeding pumps for babies who need that little bit of additional support on the SCBU. On behalf of all the team at South Lakes Birth Centre I would like to congratulate Cora on her incredible fundraising efforts.”
If you would like to support Cora, please visit here fundraising page: www.justgiving.com/cora10
If you would like to fundraise for a special hospital ward at FGH that’s close to your heart, please visit: http://www.bayhospitalscharity.org/donate
