Doris’ gift

In 2013, a generous legacy donation from Mrs Doris Rone-Clarke built the new Respiratory and Cystic Fibrosis Unit, which brings together all of our respiratory services in one location to improve patient experience.

Many medical conditions such as asthma, cystic fibrosis, heart defects and metabolic disorders, can result in sleep disordered breathing. This can have a real impact on a child or young person’s behaviour and their home and school lives.

Thanks to Doris’ transformational gift we now have a vastly improved modern unit, which currently supports around 1,400 patients. Thanks to Doris we’ve been able to add a second lung function testing area, a new counselling room and three purpose built sleep testing bedrooms. Having more space means that the respiratory team can call patients into the centre for urgent reviews in a familiar environment rather than having to attend the Emergency Department.

A gift which lasts beyond a lifetime

This unit was only made possible by Doris’s visionary gift, which has helped to ensure a future where the next generation of children is healthier than the last.

Doris from Northfield, Birmingham, chose to support respiratory medicine after her only child Lynn, who suffered severely from asthma, died at the age of 21.  Since Lynn’s death in the 1960s, Doris was quite clear that all the money she left in her Will would go towards helping youngsters with similar problems.

As Lynn was treated through the auspices of the ‘Give a Child Health’ trust fund, this wonderful legacy gift for our hospital was awarded via the Trust.