HEALTHY DOSE OF LOVE

$300,000 show of Christmas spirit a record foundation donation

THE spirit of Christmas is alive and well in Cairns with the Far North Queensland Hospital Foundation receiving its single biggest donation in history.

A Cairns woman, who wants to remain anonymous, handed over a $300,000 cheque to the foundation after reading an appeal in the Cairns Post.

The money is to be split between the cardiac catheter laboratory project at Cairns Hospital and the Liz Plummer Cancer Care Unit.

The woman is a long-term local, who was born at the former Herries Private Hospital along McLeod St in Cairns North, 87 years ago.

She has endured terrible heartache in her life, losing her husband, daughter and granddaughter.

She has also suffered significant medical issues, undergoing major heart procedures in Townsville in 2008.

She said she wanted to support other locals, through the public health service.

“I just think locals should support locals, and that’s what I’ve done with this donation,” she said.

The foundation has been fundraising towards a second cardiac catheter laboratory at Cairns Hospital.

To date, it has raised $1.2 million towards its goal of $1.4 million, with the Palaszczuk government matching the foundation’s contribution.

It is hoped the $2.8 million lifesaving facility is opened by late 2018.

Hospital foundation Glenys Duncombe said she had been blown away by the generosity of the woman, when she had walked into the foundation’s office a few weeks ago brandishing a page of the Cairns Post appealing for donations.