Young patients will gain from charity jump

Shannon Dilks, 19, a healthcare assistant at the hospital’s paediatric oncology and haemotology department, will take a charity sky-dive on February 28, 2015.

Shannon from Haverhill hopes to raise £1,000 for Addenbrooke’s Charitable Trust and wants the children on her ward to be able to decide how the money is to be spent.

She said: “I wanted to do the jump because the kids I work with face so many of their fears every day, I thought I could bring myself to do this.”

Shannon wants to use the money raised to pay for toys and play equipment for the children and young people she works with.

“I started work here a few months ago,” she said. “I noticed there wasn’t much in the teenage rooms. I thought it would be good to raise money for some iPads.

“One little boy has been on the ward for seven months. There’s not much for him to do here after that much time.”

Shannon has received a lot of support from her colleagues at Addenbrooke’s and has already raised almost a third of her fund-raising target.

The money that Shannon raises will go towards equipment that will have a significant effect upon the children on the ward.

“The children are really excited,” said Alexandra Bosnic, 29, of the hospital’s paediatric oncology and haemotology department play team. “We’ll be able to buy sensory and tactile equipment for the ward.

“It makes a massive improvement. We want to make a home from home.

“A lot of children are here for a long time. It helps support their recovery.”

Donations can be made to Shannon’s cause online through her Just Giving page at www.justgiving.com/Shannon-Dilks.