Wraxall Lodge Donate £500 to the “Brainbox Fund”
Wraxall Lodge donate £500 to Southmead Hospital Brain Tumour Bank and Research Fund – the “Brainbox Fund”.
On Monday 15th January, W.Bro Dale Shermon accompanied by his wife Fran and Bro Mark Wilcox, Charity Steward – members of Wraxall Lodge who meet at Nailsea Masonic Hall had the pleasure of meeting Hannah Jones, Community Fundraising Manager at Southmead Hospital and clinicians and nurses from the Neurological Dept.
W.Bro Dale was on holiday abroad when he collapsed without warning, he had no symptoms leading up to this. Subsequent medical interventions showed that unfortunately Dale had Brain Cancer (Glioblastoma stage 4). He was transferred to Southmead Hospital where he has received excellent care, and following two brain operations conducted by consultant neurosurgeon Mr Venkat Iyer and accompanying chemotherapy treatment he is in a much better place.
In recognition of the care and support Dale received, Wraxall Lodge donated £500 to the Brainbox Fund at Southmead which funds research. Dale and Fran also made a personal donation to the same fund. These donations were greatly appreciated, and it was lovely that nurses who had treated Dale were able to meet us for a chat and a photo.
Southmead is a centre of excellence for many medical areas, including Brain Surgery. They have just reached their target of £833,952 to purchase the Synaptic Modus X robotic surgical microscope – this will transform the treatment of brain cancer and other neurological conditions. It will reduce patient treatment time with less anaesthetic – reducing hospital stay length by 29% and making an additional 2K bed days available per year. This link explains further:
Cutting-edge equipment – Southmead Hospital Charity
Hannah gave us a guided tour of some of the facilities and explained how vital charitable donations are to fund additional equipment and services at the hospital. She gave us a copy of their Impact Report for last year which explains the range of works funded by charity – you can read it here:
Impact Report 2022-2023 – Southmead Hospital Charity
There are 996 patient beds at Southmead, with an average of 280 patient admissions per day. Their Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of 64 beds is one of the busiest in the country and a major trauma centre for the south west. We are delighted to contribute to their work.
