Local charity donates £25,000 to Ninewells Hospital unit

To mark its 25th anniversary, Tayside and North East Fife Children with Cancer and Leukaemia gifted £25,000 to the paediatric oncology unit at Ninewells Hospital where the majority of local children receive treatment.

The charity, established to give families crucial practical and emotional support, has developed over the years and is now one of the main charitable support services for hundreds of local families, assisting them at home and in hospital with diagnosis grants, funding for activities, parking and taxi vouchers and other financial assistance.

On Saturday, May 25, the charity held its fundraising ball in Dundee’s Apex hotel, raising over £20,000. The event also provided the opportunity for TCCL Lodge chairperson Dr Rosalie Wilkie to hand over a cheque to Dr Margaret Peebles, consultant paediatrician at Ninewells Hospital.

Dr Wilkie said: “We are so grateful to individuals, organisations and businesses for their generous support. We wanted to something significant to mark the 25th anniversary and agreed that the best way would be to buy items that would make the children’s stay at Ninewells as easy as possible.”

Dr Peebles said: “The oncology team would like to thank TCCL for all their hard work and support over the last 25 years. Their fund-raising has supported Tayside Children’s Hospital over this time to improve facilities for children and their families. The latest donations will enable us to designate a teenagers’ area within our outpatient clinic, help reduce the age at which an anaesthetic is needed for scanning and improve the facilities for our inpatients.”