Mother who lost son at Russells Hall Hospital fundraising for new bereavement suite
A young woman from Wordsley is fundraising for another bereavement suite at Russells Hall Hospital after losing her child in June.
Aimee Garrett lost her beloved Ronnie back in June 2022 and was surprised there was only one private bereavement suite at Russell’s Hall hospital she pledged to do something about it in her son's memory.
Despite her grief she spoke to the bereavement team, who she described as wonderfully supportive from the start, and with huge support from her colleagues at Dudley College where she is employed she set about raising money for a second suite.
She requested help from former Councillor now Alderman Steve Waltho as his son Joe is the fiancé of Aimee’s sister Emily.
Steve said: “When Aimee first approached us it was a no-brainer in terms of helping her and our admiration for her determination to succeed in memory of her dear son was really touching. Her partner Martin has been an absolute rock throughout.
"However there’s a long way to go as we’ve been informed that somewhere in the region of £45,000 will be required for the project to become reality."
Aimee said: "I am determined to eventually reach my goal and have other ideas in the pipeline including climbing Mount Snowdon sometime in April."
Since her crusade began a host of events have included a packed curry night event at the Crystal Balti in Wordsley, coffee fundraisers at the college as well as a JustGiving page.
The Saleem Foundation headed by Councillor Shaz Saleem also donated £1000.
The latest event was a Christmas party.
Close friend Tammy Glyptis lives in Tiled House Lane, Pensnett and arranged a rather chilly Christmas street party with an appearance by Santa and over 100 residents turned out raising £1260.
Tammy said: “Something we’ve always prided ourselves on in our cul-de-sac is the warm community spirit which we never take for granted. As soon as we learned about Aimee’s Ronnie and Friends Appeal we immediately set about staging our event to raise money for this wonderful cause”.
Support her appeal by simply googling JustGiving and searching for Aimee Garratt. To donate by other means please contact Steve Waltho on 07703 308463 or by email at stevewaltho@hotmail.co.uk.
