Ronnie Patel
Ronnie Kings Charity Page
Fundraising for King's College Hospital Charity
Story
I'm fundraising as part of Team Kings Volunteers! Kings NHS Foundation Trust has been a huge mine and my family’s life, namely a few significant examples below:
- 1982 my mum contracted TB shortly after getting married and spent 3 months in the hospital, making a full recovery due to the amazing King’s staff.
- In light of this she is was able to live a full life (arguably is currently fitter than I am) and later King’s once again helped her give birth to myself a healthy boy (and also a legend) in 1988 at you guess it ..Kings College hospital, and hence wouldn’t be here writing this story today without them..
- 1995 - suffered a severe asthma attack and needed hospitalisation, was looked after a nurse called Lucy for 3 days.
- 2002 - Took a heavy tackle playing football and was treated and made a recovery thanks to the great physiotherapy team, after sustaining a grade 2 ankle injury.
- 2007 - My grandfather was diagnosed with lung cancer and spent his final few days on RD Lawrence ward and passed away peacefully.
- 2019 - My grandmother also was made palliative and passed peacefully.
As a result of our family’s debt to the trust, one of the best decision I made was to train to be a Pharmacist, and I was lucky to be recruited to join this team in 2016. I realised all staff at Kings demonstrate hard work and goodwill to ensure that all patients are supported and treated well.
I started running during the Covid-19 pandemic as a relatively inexperienced runner. And since then the support from the staff have received have made me fall in the love with the sport. The physios (namely Chris Williams, Michelle Carroll and Shannon O’Shea) have made sure I have remained injury free and recovered quickly, the podiatrists (Hetal Patel) have ensured that my feet have remained blister, ingrown toenail 🤮 and corn free, the pharmacy department (namely Robin Jones, Gillian Cavell , Caroline Cheng and Shelley Jones) have optimised my training to ensure PBs were reached/provided mascot support on race days and there are so many people (Dr Adam Ling, Dr Ed Shelley, Dr Neil Bodagh, Dr Tom Weddell, Dr Ellie Tung, Rebecca Perry and Mel O’Brien thats you!) who have also joined for the journey to make training enjoyable with social runs, even during the toughest times.
It has always been a dream to run the London Marathon, and now that dream has come true. This is now my chance to repay the at least part of the debt I owe the trust and the great people who make it great.
You may not be aware but the King’s charity is run by a volunteer service, and as a front liner during the pandemic the staff would have not have survived without the support of the charity which has been ongoing for nearly a decade. Their support enables us to maximise the patient experience and recruit and support our orange army of volunteers. It adds a personal touch to the department. Having someone who can add that little bit extra that other staff just do not have the time to do I think is really nice for the patient experience.
