Hospice Heroes

Hospice Heroes
Our wonderful supporter, George, has been training in Kickboxing since he was 5 years old and has been putting all his effort into it since then! After reaching his first dan black belt, he wanted to reach his second one! To do this he has to pass a series of star tests, each with difficult challenges. For his orange star, he challenged himself to help others! 
 
Last Saturday, George completed a run, 28 miles, which is more than a marathon! Starting at the hospice, he ran to Mary Stevens Park and back 14 times… with motivation from his Mum, Vanessa and Dad, Ed, they completed this in just over 11 hours! 
 
George said: I have chosen The Mary Stevens Hospice to fundraise for because I think we are lucky to have a place in our local community that takes such good care of people and their family and friends when they need it most. 
 
Massive well done, George, we are all SO proud of you! 💙 
Well done to one of our incredible supporters Chris. 

Sunday, 30th April 2023 he took part in Regeneron Great Limerick Run – finishing in an hour, 59 minutes and 34 seconds! (Bearing in mind this was his first half marathon!) He also had a great motivation to push him along – his Mom, Elaine. 11 years ago, Elaine took part in hospice events and fundraisers as a day visitor, before ultimately deciding that she would like it to be her final resting place. 

Chris has worked (and ran!) so hard to make his Mom proud, and that’s exactly what he’s done. He has raised an amazing £759 for the hospice so far. Every penny that he has raised will help us continue that vital care for our patients that his Mom had 11 years ago, he is still passing it forward so that others can receive that same care. We think that’s totally commendable. 💙 

So, thank you so much again to you, Chris! We can tell from the pictures that your Mom was definitely shining down on you that day! ☀️ 
When Scarlett-Rose’s Dad’s band, Steptoe and Son, were performing, Scarlett made and performed her own dance routine! Whilst dancing she collected an incredible £172.89, alongside her Dad!

Thank you for thinking of the Hospice, Scarlett-Rose and fundraising for us. This money will be used to support our patients and their families in their time of need.

Saturday 28th January 2023 saw an incredible Charity Night hosted by one of our wonderful hospice heroes, Kylie, and her family. This was all in memory of Kylie’s Mom, Margaret and Dad, Barry.

As Margaret spent her last days here at the Hospice, her family decided to give something back to express their gratitude for the care they received, and that is exactly what they did!

The best part of this was that it was hosted at the Spring Meadow Social Club, which Margaret and Barry used for over 50 years, so it was a very special night, one with loved ones at the heart of it.  

Overall, this event made an amazing £3,150 – which we think is absolutely astounding.  

A big thank you and well done goes to Kylie, her friends and family that helped bring this night together!
Staff at Mary Stevens Hospice have gratefully received a £40,000 donation from long-time benefactor, Mike Brown of Dreamland, Brierley Hill  
 
This generous donation will be used towards funding the Stourbridge based Hospice’s ‘Room-to-care’ appeal. 

Mike Brown said: “At Dreamland we are immensely proud of how the local community support the business. I really wanted to give back, and the Mary Stevens have had a great impact on a lot members of the community. I felt that their holistic approach to programmes of care resonated with the ethos of the business. I have been raising money for the hospice for some time now and the total figure is over £225,000.”

Read more about Mike’s generous donation towards our Room to Care appeal here

Meet Steve! Steve has had a long-standing association with the Hospice as an ambulance driver and has seen and experienced first-hand what care we deliver to our patients in the Black Country.

He has also had an ambition to complete the pilgrimage of the Camino De Santiago. What better way to combine these two things than to walk from the France/Spain border to Santiago de Compostela while raising money for us!

We are very happy that Steve had a great experience, and we are grateful for the money he was able to raise for us. Thank you so much Steve, you are a true hospice hero!
On the 25th September, Maisy ran the Robin Hood Half Marathon. After 13.1 miles, she finished in an amazing 1 hour 43:35 seconds!

Other than to just have a bit of fun, on a Sunday afternoon – this meant much more to her. She raised money for the hospice in memory of her Nan, Jean and her Auntie Jen, as they received hospice care from our team here; she wanted to pay it forward in some way, so other people can receive the same compassionate care. 

Including Gift Aid, Maisy has raised OVER £1,000, which is absolutely incredible! We just want to say a massive well done to you Maisy, and thank you for thinking of us when fundraising!

Visit Maisy’s JustGiving page here
During the Queen’s Jubilee Celebrations, our fantastic Hospice supporter Rose, held a Jubilee Fundraiser to support the Hospice.

Rose went above and beyond to support the Hospice by shaving her head and holding a raffle during the celebration her street was holding. We are proud to share that Rose raised an incredible £555.00 to support patient care at the Hospice.

Thank you for all of your support Rose, you are inspirational!
Rob, Richard and Matt will be riding from London to Paris to Fundraise for The Mary Stevens Hospice in July, in memory of Richard’s son-in-law, James Cable.

This epic journey will begin on July 20th which will see the team of devoted cyclists ride from London to Paris in just four days. The first day will see the team cover 90 miles alone!

Just under 12 months ago, James was given the devastating diagnosis of terminal cancer. At this point in time, James was 34 years old, with two children under the age of 5 and was working as Head of Science at The Pedmore High School, Stourbridge. The James Cable Memorial Ride 2022 will be completed in James’s name and fundraise for The Mary Stevens Hospice.

Please visit the team’s JustGiving page to find out more about the James Cable Memorial Ride 2022: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/richard-carroll9

We would like to wish the very best of luck to Rob, Richard and Matt and thank you all for your support of the Hospice.
Introducing the amazing Caroline who for the whole of 2021 she set herself a challenge to run 5 miles every day!
 
Her motivation for each and every 6am run has been the amazing work that Mary Stevens Hospice do for those near the end of their life and the support to their families.
 
So far Caroline has raised over an incredible £1,800 and there is still time to support her: visit Caroline’s JustGiving page here!
In March Izzy ran the Liverpool half marathon in memory of her Mom. We cared for Izzy’s mom, Jenny here at the Hospice last year during her final three weeks, following her diagnosis of a rare and aggressive, terminal cancer in February 2021. Izzy has kindly shared some words about the care that Jenny and her family all received here at the Hospice: “Their values are ‘care, compassion and kindness’ and they showed Mum not only that, but so much more while she was there. Nothing was too much trouble for any of them and half the time they felt like friends rather than nurses which was so comforting.”

Izzy completed the Liverpool half marathon in 1hour and 57 minutes and has raised over £2,200 for The Mary Stevens Hospice. The money raised will be used by the Hospice to help to ensure we can care for families just like Izzy’s in their greatest time of need.
Please read Izzy’s full story on her JustGiving page here
We would like to thank Jonathan and the team at the Queensway Inn, Pedmore for their amazing ongoing fundraising. To date they have raised over £1,400 for patient care through different ways of fundraising from fun days to discos.

We can’t wait to hear all about his upcoming fundraising ideas. Thank you so much!
We would like to introduce you to Harry who has recently completed the Manchester Marathon to help raise vital funds for patient care. in October he will also be taking part In the Liverpool Marathon and we wish him all the luck for completing this!


Harry also kindly supports the hospice through ongoing support from Wall James Chappell  
Thank you so much to the team from Lloyds Bank, Black Country, Shropshire & Midlands who recently completed a 14 mile trek across the highest points across Staffordshire and Shropshire.

The guys and gals wanted to raise £5,000 for the Hospice and they have reached that and beyond.  

The team have been supporting us this year as we celebrate our milestone anniversary and we cannot thank them enough for their support. You are all absolutely amazing!

If you want to add to their total, their Justgiving page is still open!
We would like to say a huge thank you to Laura and all the guys from Pure Gym Brierley Hill for their amazing and unique fundraising. They completed a lunge-a-thon from the gym all the way to The Mary Stevens Hospice.
 
Lunging is a challenging exercise to do so walking whilst lunging all the way to the Hospice was very tough, but they completed it and we can’t thank them enough for their kind support.
Let us introduce you to Alison. On Saturday 11th September 2021, Alison hiked up mount Snowdon to raise vital funds for The Mary Stevens Hospice.
 
At 3.30am she started hiking along the Llanberis path up Mount Snowdon along with a small group. Although this was very tough for her, fellow climbers made it a thoroughly enjoyable experience and we would like to share some photos from her hike.
 
The Hospice is very close to Alison’s heart as her mum volunteered on the reception desk at the Hospice for some years and also provided much needed care for her aunt last year.
 
Alison has already raised an amazing £450 passing her target of £100. Thank you so much Alison for your kind support of the Hospice.

Six of our fabulous In Patient Unit nurses are taking on Snowdon!

Day to day our nurses provide specialist, palliative care to those that we care for here at the Hospice. The team have various levels of fitness and even after 12 hour night shifts, the training is well underway to help them achieve their goal.

Anna, Helen, Linda, Jap, Rachelle and Sue will be waking up Snowdon in October 2021 to raise much needed funds for the Hospice as we celebrate our 30th anniversary year.

The team, driven by their supportive colleagues will be putting their best feet forward and we would like to wish all of the team the very best of luck in completing their Snowdon challenge. From the ward to the top of Snowdon, you are all true Hospice Heroes!

Show your support and leave your well wishes for our nurses on their JustGiving page

Two of our fabulous Day Services Nurses, Anne and Ruth are taking on a fundraising challenge in September, which they are calling ‘Anne & Ruth’s Scottish 500’

It’s a 500 mile cycling challenge around the north coast of Scotland, starting and finishing at Inverness. Anne will be the pedal power, riding her bike over the seventeen days and Ruth will be following closely behind in her campervan in charge of cooking and laundry.

Anne loves these trips and whilst she does get a little nervous about them, she loves simply getting on her bike in the morning and peddling somewhere new!

Our nurses are doing this challenge because they both love working for the Hospice and believe there is a fantastic team all throughout the Hospice. Their wish is to raise as much money as possible to continue to support the people in our area with life limiting illnesses.

Please show your support for Anne and Ruth on their JustGiving page.

Matt is fundraising for The Mary Stevens Hospice through an event which he has called ‘Clare’s Crazy Cruise’, which will see him and a team of men squeezing in to soft top Mini’s and rallying all across the UK, visiting some of the places that his fiancé Clare loved so much.

Clare passed away at the end of 2020, and honoring her final wishes, Matt will be fundraising on our behalf, Clare loved everything about the Hospice and supported us for many years.  

Matt and his team set off from the Hospice on Monday 2nd August to begin their fundraising journey, up and down the country. They will be travelling for seven days, all while being chased by the ‘police’, Italian Job style!

Clare’s Crazy Cruise raised £20,950.80 with donations from people up and down the country. Thank you for taking the name of the Hospice around the country Matt and sharing the work that The Mary Stevens Hospice does.

What a fabulous fundraising idea Matt, we are really lucky to have a Hospice Hero like you!
Sally is a true Hospice Hero, She has been raising funds for many years by her jam making and running the Terracycle recycling scheme. She has raised well over an incredible £2,500 for the Hospice and we can’t thank her enough!

Sally runs our Terracycle recycling scheme whereby she raises vital funds to help patient care here at The Mary Stevens Hospice. Participants can get involved by collecting smaller amounts of items and dropping them off in Norton, Stourbridge, or collect the minimum amounts and request a free postage label. Further details can be found on her Facebook page here

Sally set up this scheme so she could give something back to the hospice after providing some absolutely incredible care for her wonderful father-in-law. They miss him dearly and raising money for the hospice is her way of saying thank you.

Dave Macklin has written his own poetry book which is filled with over 100 poems, with all of the proceeds from the sale of these books being donated to the Hospice.

The poems inside ‘Painting With Words’ reflect his interest in wildlife, nature and landscape. Many of the poems have been written from Dave’s inspiration from Halesowen, The Black Country and North Worcestershire. Dave has already donated £1,000 from the sale of his book to the Hospice, for which we are incredibly grateful.

If you would like to support the Hospice by purchasing one of Dave’s Books you can order one directly from Dave: davidmacklin7@gmail.com or call/text on 07932 555964. You can also purchase through Dave’s Etsy Shop: https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/PoetryByDavid?ref=search_shop_redirect

Some of you may recognise Will Phipps from our award winning Pantomimes, as he always stars as our “Silly Billy” and is a firm favourite with our audiences. He also produces and directs our incredible pantomimes.

Since the beginning of the first lockdown in March 2020, Will has written and presented our BIG VIRTUAL QUIZ, every Saturday night and has helped raise well over £7,000 towards patient care, during these troubled times.

With such dedication to our cause, he never fails to entertain, make us laugh and present with his fantastic sense of humour, testing questions and kind heart, and we really can’t thank him enough!
He really is The Greatest Showman.

Why not join us at one of our Saturday quizzes and see if you can become our weekly Champions? It’s so easy to play and we guarantee you will feel like you’ve had a night out without leaving the house! 

Will also runs his own Entertainment business, Funtime Theatre of which are also a huge supporter from helping at our events and recently launching their brand new children’s books of which 10% of each book sale is donated to help patient care here at the hospice.

We really can’t thank you enough Will, you are a true Hospice Hero!
We would like to introduce you all to Claire. Over the past 11 months she has been fundraising in many different ways.

To date Claire has raised in excess of £3,000 to help fund patient care here at the Hospice of which is such an incredible amount.

Claire, we cannot thank you enough for all your kind support, you are a true Hospice Hero! We can’t wait to hear all about your next fundraising ideas.

Let us introduce you all to Tom and Josh, who on the 24th April will be running the marathon distance from Worcester to Halesowen. They will be donning their running shoes to raise funds for The Mary Stevens Hospice which has played an important role in providing care for members of their family and friends.
 
They have already hit their sponsorship target and you can follow their progress here.
 
Thank you so much Tom and Josh for your kind support, you are true Hospice heroes and we wish you all the best on Saturday!
We would like to introduce Maria, who is a true Hospice Hero by doing an incredible job fundraising for us this April.
She will be completing 10,000 steps a day throughout April to reach an overall target of 300,000 steps for the whole month!
Maria wanted to give something back in the 30th anniversary year, as the Hospice is very close to Maria and her family after providing care to her mom, Helen Goodwin.

Follow Maria’s progress and show your support here.
Thank you so much Maria, we can’t wait to follow your steps and wish you all the luck in completing your challenge
Matthew is 12 years old and he set himself the challenge of running 5k everyday during February to raise funds for patient care here at The Mary Stevens Hospice.

Thank you very much for your support Matthew. We loved meeting you and hearing all about your challenge.

Issy Winstanley Hospice Heroes
Towards the end of 2021, Issy raised over £300 for patient care by producing professional musical messages for people to send to, friends and family during lockdown.

Thank you Issy for your continued support of The Mary Stevens Hospice!
Chere Hospice Heroes
Chere is a true Hospice Hero raising well over an outstanding £20,000 for patient care. Chere runs the Royal Exchange, Enville Street Stourbridge and has held various fundraising events including her ongoing huge bottle money jar!
 
Not only does she raise vital funds she also plays a big part in volunteering at our fundraising events and even brings her fabulous team to join in with our annual Santa Jog!
 
We really can’t thank Chere enough for her incredible support of the Hospice.
In the Spring Katie and Rob will be doing a skydive to raise funds for the Hospice. A skydive can be a daunting thought for anyone, so if you would like to show them both some support, please visit Katie’s JustGiving and Rob’s JustGiving pages. 


Thank you both for your support! 

Sam and Jon, co-hosts of the Oddscrackers podcast are raising funds for the Hospice through their Cheltenham Festival donations page. Their podcast is free of charge and are asking if anyone has enjoyed tho podcast they would be hugely grateful for any donations. 

Please read Sam’s JustGiving page to read his beautiful words about his wife Kate and why he has chosen to raise money for Mary Stevens Hospice. 

Sam raised £16,953.23 in memory of Kate, an incredible total, for which we are so grateful, thank you Sam!
Let us introduce you to Bobbi-Ann, she is 8 years old and loves to read books. She has set herself an exciting challenge to complete the whole J.K Rowling Harry Potter books collection to raise funds for patient care.

Thank you so much Bobbi-Ann, we really hope that you enjoyed this challenge!
This is Lauren and on the 21st December she had her long hair cut to raise funds for the Hospice. Lauren has raised an incredible total of £430.00 for patient care here at the hospice!

Mary Stevens looked after her Nanny Jo, although this was before she was born her family still speak of the kindness shown by The Mary Stevens Hospice.

We can’t thank Lauren enough for all her kind support!
Wayne has set himself the challenge of walking, running or cycling 2021 miles this year! Alongside raising money for the Hospice, Wayne will also be raising money for Young Minds.

Thank you fro raising awareness of the Hospice and Young Minds, Wayne. We are inspired by your determination to complete this challenge as we know that some of the conditions that you covered your miles in were not the best. A huge ‘well done’ from all of us here at the Hospice!
Helen and Louise are two of our amazing nurses here at the Hospice. Over 12 months they walked and ran 874 miles which is the equivalent of Lands End to John O Groats to raise funds for patient care.

Helen decided she needed a challenge especially after all the gyms being closed and race events postponed.
When they saw this challenge they couldn’t resist!


Thank you both for all our amazing work 💙
Brad is running 5K every day for a year in memory of his mom, Kim Ralph. Brad completed his 5k a day challenge and absolutely blew us away with his determination to complete this challenge every day.

Brad’s final 5K took place at Bodymoor Heath with John Terry, Jack Grealish and Tyrone Mings joining him. The final run took place on from Stourbridge, passing his mom’s childhood home, Windsor High School and finishing at the Aston Villa ground. Brad’s phenomenal effort meant that this challenged raised £26,448.81 for patient care at the Hospice, which will be used to help families just like Brad’s.  
During 2021 our fabulous Hospice supporter Emma challenged herself to walk 30 miles in each month for the whole year to celebrate the Hospice’s 30th anniversary. We are incredibly proud to share that Emma completely smashed her challenge! Sometimes walking through difficulty conditions, Emma always had a big smile on her face and made all of us here at the Hospice very proud. Emma also completely surpassed her fundraising goal and in total raised an incredible £6,270!

There is just no stopping our Hospice Hero as Emma will be embarking on another fundraising challenge this year, ’22 Peaks In 2022’.

We would like to wish Emma the very best of luck in completing her fundraising challenge this year. You can show your support and follow Emma’s progress via her JustGiving page here.
Gaz has been completing regular gaming challenges in memory of his Dad, Carl Hughes. To date, Gaz has raised over £1,500 for the Hospice. Please take a look at Gaz’s JustGiving page to show your support.

For many years, Thelma has been raising money for the Hospice by growing some amazing plants in her own garden. In previous years, people have been able to visit her garden and take pots of plants grown by Thelma, and many of those people have kindly given a voluntary donation to the Hospice. All that changed last year with the pandemic and a JustGiving was set up to make sure all of Thelma’s hard work wasn’t in vain. Thelma raised a huge £3,495 and counting, for which we are incredibly grateful and so are our gardens!
Samantha Byrne shaved her head LIVE YouTube at the start of March to raise funds for the Hospice in memory of Clare Hill. Sam is keeping her Go Fund Me page open until the end of March if you would like to show your support and make a donation. On the page you can also relive the moment with Sam and read her lovely words about Clare. 


Sam, you are very brave and we would like to thank you for supporting Mary Stevens Hospice! 
In January Tom and Dominic raised funds for the Hospice by streaming a variety of games for 15 hours! They both took on this challenge in memory of their grandparents who were both supported by the Hospice. They absolutely smashed their target of £100 and in total raised £325! 


A huge well done to both of you and thank you for supporting the Hospice! You can still donate to the boys fundraiser on their Go Fund Me page.