On Tuesday 30th November we are hoping to perform something of a Christmas miracle and raise £30,000 in 24 hours!

It's a big target we have set ourselves for #GivingTuesday but we hope with your help we will be able to achieve it!

The Coronavirus outbreak has had a significant impact on our ability to raise vital funds over the last 18 months; we are over £400,000 down on our fundraising income compared to this time two years ago pre-pandemic.

As we work towards increasing the services we offer to patients and families it is vital that voluntary income gets back to and hopefully exceeds pre-Covid 19 levels - for this to happen we need your support.

We are asking you to show your support by making a donation to ensure we can continue to provide our services free of charge for more people in Coventry and Warwickshire, now and in the future.

Providing dedicated care and support for people with terminal illnesses, and their families, in our inpatient beds and in the community continues to be our primary focus, and we need to raise at least £7.8 million this year to do this.

We cant do it without the support of people like you!

This year we need to raise vital funds so we can be there for more people like Lorraine and David:

David and Lorraine Knibb had been married for 51 years, after meeting at University in Bradford.

They married within a year or so of having met and spent the subsequent years working, studying, and travelling the world when they could find both the time and money to do so.

Leaving Bradford they moved to Leicester and then Coventry where Lorraine was a project manager for Whitefriars Housing Association.

Lorraine loved classical music, having got as far as Grade 7 for Piano - and sponsored several players at the world famous City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. She read avidly and never had her head out of a book, and at one time must have been one of the most regular visitors to Coventry Library.

In June 2020 Lorraine carried out a routine bi-annual Bowel Cancer screening test and a week later received a letter to say that it was all clear.

Within a week or two Lorraine started to have significant discomfort down one side of her body but she put it down to wind.

David encouraged her to go to her GP but she wouldnt, however by mid August she was in so much pain that she put being stubborn aside and asked to be taken to the doctors and by this time was yellow in appearance.

The GP arranged for her to be admitted as an emergency patient at University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire (UHCW) and by midday she was in hospital having lots of tests, then be told that she had acute Bowel Cancer.

The couple were told that it was operable and Lorraine would undergo surgery at 7am the following day.

Lorraine duly had the planned operation and was fitted with a stoma, she spent a further two weeks in hospital and then David received the devastating call to say the cancer had spread and couldnt be cured.

Both Lorraine and David were understandably shocked and David questioned how the Bowel Cancer test just a couple of months earlier had been clear.

The consultant explained that the screening looks for blood markers which are an indicator of Bowel Cancer but arent always present, and sadly this was the case for Lorraine.

Lorraine was discharged from UHCW on 10th September, just a short time after her 71st birthday, and was described by the nurses as a model patient.

David said she looked tired but was OK, and initially seemed to recover a bit. But she couldnt and wouldnt eat sufficiently, she lost a lot of weight and started to weaken.

Three weeks later when they went to see the Oncologist Lorraine was offered palliative chemotherapy and was told that if the treatment went well she would have up to 12-18 months to live.

The Oncologist was worried that she might be too weak to be treated with chemotherapy but Lorraine wanted to go ahead even though David had significant doubts.

In late October the treatment started and a pump was fitted for the first round in the planned six sessions. This finished and the pump was removed.

At this point Lorraine could still talk rationally but her pain was increasing and she was on increasing doses of morphine which interfered badly with her brain functions.

She went rapidly downhill and David was struggling to look after her at home. He contacted his GP to say that he was finding it almost impossible to cope especially at a time when the UK was in lockdown and family and friends were unable to visit and help.

David became really scared when he dropped Lorraine struggling to get her to the toilet and contacted his GP again.

The doctor gave David the choice to have nurses visit their home or for Lorraine to be admitted to Coventry Myton Hospice.

David didnt want his wife to die at home and thought that she would be safer at Myton. An ambulance was arranged and Lorraine was admitted to Myton on a Thursday afternoon in early November.

David describes how two lovely Doctors at Myton met with the couple and explained that they couldnt save Lorraine but they could help her to have a good death. David stayed at Myton most of the following day with his wife but the attentive team of doctors and nurses said that it was important for him to have a break and that they would call him if anything changed.

On the Saturday David went for a bike ride and part way through got a call from Myton to say he should come to the hospice.

When he arrived that lunchtime Lorraine was unconscious and the nurse suggested that David read her a story and explained that she would go when she was ready.

David read his wife The Wind in the Willows and talked to her about their life together. Lorraines breathing was shallow and the nurses made her comfortable, at 3am on Sunday she took her last breath with David by her bedside - just 8 days after the first round of Chemo and about 10 weeks after being admitted to hospital.

After his wifes death David decided that as Myton was there to help them both in their time of need he would like to give something back to the charity.

He organised a collection in Lorraines memory and he and his cycling friends collected £10,000 including Gift Aid.

Then within a month of Lorraines death David generously donated £25,000 to fund a Myton nurse post and has said that he will make a donation every year to Myton in her memory and as thanks for the care they both received, when they needed it most.