Bytheways pave the way with charity walk

An entire family has come together to raise £1,600 for University Hospital Birmingham Charities (UHB Charities) [now the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham Charity]. The Bytheways from Dudley organised a sponsored walk to raise funds for the Young Persons Unit (YPU) at the Cancer Centre, Queen Elizabeth Hospital.

Matthew Bytheway was an inpatient on the YPU. After his recovery, he told the staff that as soon as he was ready he would do some fundraising for the unit. With the help of his mother Carol, the whole family came together for the sponsored walk.

Carol Bytheway said: "We decided to do the walk to try and give something back to the YPU. All the staff were so wonderful: they let me stay with Matthew any time I wanted and were very comforting. I could never really say thank you for what they did, but this is just a token of my gratitude."

Twenty-eight members of the Bytheway family gathered for the walk, which went through Baggeridge Park and Himley Park in Dudley.

Carol said: "It was a great experience. It was lovely to have all the family together and we had a really good day."

All the money they raised will go to the YPU, which provides inpatient care for patients aged 16 – 25 living with cancer.