Money raised by late campaigner donated to hospice

Money raised by Motor Neurone Disease (MND) campaigner Sam Perkins before he died has been donated to a struggling hospice.

Mr Perkins, from East Leake, Nottinghamshire, helped to raise more than £250,000 for his charity Stand Against MND after his diagnosis in 2019, aged 37.

The former triathlete died in February and had been supported by Nottinghamshire Hospice - which cares for those with incurable diseases - over the last six years.

On Tuesday, his charity donated £20,000 to the hospice.

It comes after a difficult period for the Nottingham-based hospice, which confirmed a number of redundancies and cuts in February.

MND is an incurable condition that affects the brain and nerves in which the nerve cells that control muscles gradually stop working.

After his own diagnosis, Mr Perkins dedicated much of his time to raising awareness about the disease.

He set up the Fifty50 campaign to recruit 50 fundraisers to raise money in 2023 - using the name to recognise the 50% chance of dying in the first two years after being diagnosed with MND.

Mr Perkins's older sister Victoria Stonehouse said her brother would have been "so proud and so grateful" the family was continuing to do the work on his behalf.

"If he knew how close this place and others like it were to closing because of lack of funding - to know that his charity and his hard work could fund key services for a period of time - that would mean somewhere like this keeps going, then he would just be absolutely thrilled," she said.

The charity asked for the funding to specifically contribute towards bereavement counselling and end-of-life care provided by the hospice.

Emma Perkins, Mr Perkins's wife said her family had benefited from hospice services and hoped others could too.

"We just hope that other people that find themselves in situations similar to Sam's have that level of support that was provided so readily, so sensitively and so gently," she said.

She added that following her husband's death, there had been an "overwhelming" response, with supporters taking on various sporting challenges in a bid to raise funds for his charity.

"The outpouring of support for the charity and for Sam, I think, really is just a recognition of the impact that he made, and hopefully we continue to keep making that impact," Mr Perkins said.

The chief executive of Nottinghamshire Hospice Rachel Hucknall said the donation would have a "phenomenal" impact and be able to fund "800 bereavement appointments".

In February, she told the BBC the hospice would be losing six members of staff after putting 17 people at risk of redundancy in January.

Remaining staff would have their hours cut and job descriptions changed.

Ms Hucknall said: "The fact that Sam's supporting others after his passing is incredible.

"Hospices are facing a number of financial challenges at the moment, so this very generous donation will make a huge difference to us and the people we look after."

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