Thanks to funds raised by our membership, Frazier Gardella, together with myself and Bernard Tarry, recently visited Marbella’s Costa del Sol Hospital to present Estepona Chapter’s 500€ cheque to President Marion Winter of the Los Claveles charity.  Marion explained to us that her husband was diagnosed with cancer in 2001 and, during his hospital visits to Malaga, she had the idea to improve the surroundings of the unit where he was having treatment. The walls were painted, new furniture delivered and new artwork found. However, like all patients in our area requiring radiotherapy treatment, she could do nothing about the awful, sometimes daily, journey all the way to Malaga.

It was for this reason that the charity Los Claveles, the national flower of Spain (carnation in English), came into being. Its aim is to raise funds to supply the Costa del Sol Hospital with a state-of-the art radiotherapy machine for its new radiotherapy department. Marion gave us a tour of the present oncology department and also took us to the 5th floor where we had a bird’s eye view of the building work which is well under way. When open, the charity will continue to support research and hopes to fund other therapies for attending patients.

Gillian Tarry