A charity appeal has been launched to fund comfort bags to support lung cancer patients through their chemotherapy and radiotherapy treatment at New Cross Hospital.

The bags – which include items such as lip balms, a knitted heart, puzzle book, adult colouring book, wet wipes and a digital thermometer – are the idea of Cheryl Garner, Lung Care Navigator and Macmillan Support in the Respiratory Centre.

Cheryl, who has worked at The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust (RWT) for 12 years and in this team since last February, said it was important that patients felt they had “someone in their corner” at a difficult time in their lives.

Between 18 and 30 new diagnoses are made each month and the team will support just under 300 patients each year.

The comfort bags, that Cheryl is now working on with the RWT Charity team, are made of hypoallergenic material and contain items that have been shown to be beneficial to patients having chemotherapy or radiotherapy. They cost around £10 each.

The bags feature the message “One patient, One team, One step at a time” and their design features the white ribbon for lung cancer, lavender which is known for its calming properties, a lavender ribbon, the cancer flowers periwinkles and carnations as well as forget-me-nots to honour the memory of former patients.