Your money will provide life-saving machines

A linear accelerator, similar to the two machines earmarked for Oldham.

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TWO £1.3 million machines which will be used to give radiotherapy to 70 patients every day are lined up and ready to be installed in Oldham.

Known as linear accelerators, the machines will be at the centre of a £17 million radiotherapy unit due to open at the Royal Oldham Hospital next year.

The Evening Chronicle has teamed up with the world-famous cancer hospital, the Christie, in a £100,000 appeal to help towards the cost of the machines.

Once in use, they will save hundreds of patients a year having to travel from Oldham on a daily basis to the Christie Hospital in Withington, sometimes for up to five weeks are longer.

Patients battling cancer and worn down by the effects of radiotherapy now have to endure the exhausting three-hour round trip from Oldham to get lifesaving treatment.

But the Christie has chosen Oldham as the first in a network of centres which will take treatment closer to people’s homes.

The ultimate aim is to create a state-of-the-art Christie radiotherapy centre in the region within 45 minutes of the majority of people’s homes.

Oldham’s unit will be staffed by Christie doctors, specialist radiographers, nurses and other medical experts, who will between them give 20,000 treatments a year.



£10,300 from Housing Units staff — and more to follow



FUND-RAISING staff at Housing Unit’s in Failsworth swopped home furnishings for hospital beds when they raised charity funds for The Christie Hospital, Manchester.



Various fund-raising activities were held by staff over the past year, from raffles and cake bakes to a golf day and entering the Greater Manchester Run.

Their hard work resulted in a £10,350 cheque being handed over to the leading cancer centre by company director Nick Fox.

The money was used to buy two new innovative tilting beds and a state-of-the-art hoist for the Haematology and Transplant Unit, all of which will make a big difference to patients during their stay.

And it looks like the company’s donation will be the first of many as Housing Units has decided to support The Christie throughout 2009 and help raise money for its new £17 million radiotherapy centre in Oldham, which is due to open its doors to patients next year.

Mr Fox said: “We’re planning to engage Oldham people in Oldham area events that raise funds for crucial pieces of equipment that will change the lives of many local people.

“Oldham has an above-average rate of deaths from cancer, and a cancer centre in the town would make a massive difference to those people who would otherwise have to travel an hour to south Manchester every day.

“It’s no secret that The Christie is currently facing some challenges, so we are particularly delighted to be able to help in such a timely fashion.”