In Loving Memory of

Gareth Antony James

Friends and family of Gareth are taking part in one or more of the events listed below to honour his memory and to raise much needed funds for Nightingale House Hospice.

NH played a huge part in helping Gareth both mentally and physically deal with his diagnosis, with its many therapies, such as reiki, physiotherapy, counselling, acupuncture as well as invaluable support and advice. Gareth also had a very beneficial 10 day in-patient stay to help manage pain and, in Gareth's words, NH was ‘worth its weight in gold’.

Gareth was initially diagnosed in January 2021 with stage 4 inoperable bowel cancer, but was unwilling to accept this and set about finding ways to defy the odds. Gareth embarked on a self-funded integrative approach designed to work synergistically with standard NHS treatments. As a keen cyclist Gareth applied his sportsman mentality and believed in marginal wins; collectively they add up and make a difference.

To help fund this approach, Gareth crowd funded and used money raised to travel to Germany for dendritic cell therapy.

Gareth did beat the odds and lived nearly two years longer than his prognosis, giving him precious time with his family and friends, but sadly passed away on 4th December 2023.

His remaining crowdfunded money, alongside an additional £3000 raised at his funeral, was donated to NH. This money helped to fund one of the new patient rooms within the new wing. It was Gareth's wish that this room was named ‘Jasmine’ after his favourite flower.

It costs nearly £13,000 a day to keep NH going. Adopting Gareth's mentality, his family and friends are asking for your help. Collectively we can all achieve a 'marginal win' and raise money to help fund NH for future patients and their families.

At the moment NH are raising money for the hospice gardens. As a keen gardener Gareth would like it if we helped fund this on his behalf. If you are able to donate, no matter how small an amount, to our crowdfunding page we will achieve big things. Thank you for supporting Gareth's family as we take on the following challenges;

The three fund-raising events are:-

1. The NH Heritage Walk on Sunday 19th May 2024. Gareth’s wife, Beverley and his mum, Cath will walk from The Chain Bridge Hotel in Llangollen to Lion Quay near Chirk along the canal towpath, a distance of 13 miles

2. A memorial bike ride on 1st September 2024 from the Barton NPAS police helicopter base in Manchester to the Hawarden helicopter base in North Wales.

Friends and colleagues completed a 9 day, 880 mile bike ride called base2base 2023 last year cycling between all the police helicopters bases in England and Wales to raise money for Gareth’s treatment abroad. Gareth himself completed the Barton to Hawarden section of the ride himself, a total of 40 miles. This was his last ride.

3. A trip to the Mont Blanc area in France and Switzerland organised by NH. During the trip Gareth’s wife, Beverley will embark on three days of walking over 50KM between 11th to 15th September 2024