Justine Baynes, has raised £9000 for St Luke’s Hospital – part of Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust (LPT). After Justine’s mum, Carole Bowers, suffered a stroke in February 2020, Justine wanted to take on a challenge so her and her mother could feel connected through their strengths shown in the different challenges that they faced.

Carole spent nearly six weeks at the St Luke’s hospital stroke unit in Market Harborough, where staff helped her with her recovery.

Whilst Carole was being treated at St Luke’s, Justine got to know the ward staff really well and to thank them she decided that she wanted to raise money for the hospital. Justine did just that by running the Rutland marathon and also by organising a dinner and dance ball.

Justine said: “All of the staff at St Luke’s were amazing both whilst caring for my mum and also with how kind they were to us all as her family. Buying a box of chocolates to say thank you didn’t seem enough so I wanted to do something that would actually make a difference to their working lives. I have been blown away by the generosity of everyone who supported our fundraising, people were incredibly generous.”

Ward Sister at St Luke’s Hospital, Nicola Utting said: “It’s just amazing what Justine has achieved for our hospital.  As a team, it’s really important to us that our patients’ families feel supported and involved in their relatives care and discharge, so to have this recognised in this way is very special.   We would like to say a huge thank you to Justine for everything she has done for St Luke’s, and we are delighted to hear that her mum is doing so well with her stroke recovery.”

Carolyn Pascoe, fundraising manager at Raising Health, LPT’s charity said: “We are really grateful for Justine’s hard work and determination in raising funds for St Luke’s Hospital. The generous donation will go towards improving our staff health and wellbeing offer at the hospital.”

To find out more about Justine’s story and to donate, please visit her Just Giving webpage: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/justineandmarvarerunning