‘BELINDA WAS ONE OF LIFE’S TREASURES’
Former colleagues pay tribute to nurse
FORMER colleagues and friends have paid tribute to a retired nurse after she lost her cancer battle.
Belinda Tilstone was diagnosed with terminal cancer not long after retiring at the age of 55 from her role as a senior nurse on the Chatterley ward at Burslem’s Haywood Hospital. She had also worked on Scotia ward.
The 56-year-old died at her Burslem home on March 9 with her mum,
Jean, by her side. Her funeral was held on Thursday.
Now former friends and colleagues have led tributes to the ‘kind’ and ‘caring’ nurse.
Clinical support worker Wendy Evans, aged 60, said: “Shortly after retiring she became poorly and was diagnosed with terminal cancer. It was like it was happening
to someone else, she took it on the chin and got on with it. She had no intentions of dying.
“Jean has been an absolute angel and her rock. She has looked after Belinda until the bitter end. She did die peacefully with her mum. She
told her mum she was tired and she wanted to rest. She closed her eyes and just went. I was heartbroken.”
Wendy added: “She was one of life’s treasures. Belinda had so much love for everybody. She really had a heart of gold.”
Belinda loved Disney and the theatre and would travel miles to see shows.
Her funeral cortege drove through the grounds of Haywood Hospital on Thursday as patients and staff marked her service and commitment to the NHS with applause. Her funeral service was held at Tunstall Methodist Church.
Wendy added: “I would like to thank everybody who turned out at Haywood. That will mean so much to Jean. I’d also love to say a big thank you to Emma Hall, our hospital manager, for allowing Thursday to happen, it was very important and special.”
Andrew Finney, now a senior lecturer of nursing at Keele University, was mentored by Belinda early in his career and worked with her for six years.
The 44-year-old said: “She was a very cheerful, happy and caring as a nurse. She was very down to earth. She was a proper Potteries girl and everybody was ‘duck.’
“Clinically I would consider her a role model. She was somebody who was very intelligent and naturally academic.”
A spokesman for Midlands Partnership NHS Foundation Trust (MPFT), which runs the hospital, said: “Belinda was a popular and treasured member of the MPFT family. She helped to make a difference to the lives of many patients at Haywood Hospital and will be sorely missed by her friends and colleagues. Our thoughts are with Belinda’s family.”