Caring college raises vital funds for children’s hospital following teenager’s tragic death

CARING staff and students from Coleg Cambria raised vital funds for a children’s hospital.

Led by Cambria’s Learner Experience and Enterprise Manager Rona Griffiths, and PL Operations Officer Steven Mills, a series of challenges and events were held for Alder Hey Children’s Hospital in Liverpool.

Learners and employees from Wrexham, Deeside and Northop collected more than £1,500 via activities including a hamper raffle and festive stalls at last year’s Christmas Market.

Their campaign was inspired by the death of Kirsten Hill – daughter of the college’s creative content officer Kevin Hill – who tragically passed away from Acute Myeloid Leukaemia (AML) in November, aged just 14.

The total raised will be shared between the hospital’s Intensive Care Unit and Snowdrop Bereavement Centre.

“The treatment, care and support Kirsten and we as a family received was amazing,” said Kevin, who lives with wife Lynsey and eldest daughter Katie – a student at Yale Sixth Form – in Wrexham.

“After falling ill and being taken to Wrexham Maelor Hospital she was transferred to Alder Hey and sadly, after a very brief battle with Acute Myeloid Leukaemia, passed away a few days later.

“We are of course still devastated, Kirsten was the life and soul of our family, it was and will always be a heavy loss and we miss her every day.”

He added: “We would like to thank the many friends and family who have raised thousands of pounds through donations for the children’s hospital.

“The staff at Alder Hey were fantastic, they treated Kirsten with such dignity and respect – we will never forget their kindness.”

People can still donate to the hospital and a group of friends and family representing ‘Team Kirsten’ – including colleagues from Cambria’s marketing department – ran the 5k Race for Life in Chester recently in aid of Cancer Research UK.

On behalf of the college, Rona praised the students and staff who supported their appeal.

“We were all so very sad for Kevin and family and wanted to help in any way we could,” she said.

“Thank you to everyone who got behind us; Cambria is a warm and welcoming community, an environment of love and support, so I was not surprised to see people come together and show such commitment for this incredible cause.”

Adam Dixon, Running and Challenge Manager, Alder Hey Children’s Charity, added: “On behalf of everyone at Alder Hey we’d like to say a huge thank you to the staff and students from Coleg Cambria for their fundraising efforts.

“Donations help provide a range of life-saving medical equipment and facilities that are making a real difference to families every day and we’re so grateful for the support.”