KCOM team shows they’re not hard boiled - but just a bunch of sweeties

KCOM staff have shown their generosity by collecting more than 250 bags of boiled sweets for chemotherapy patients.

The collection started when KCOM employees Diane Bunn and Nick Rudderforth saw an appeal for sweets by Castle Hill Hospital, in Cottingham. Boiled sweets can help take away the unpleasant metallic aftertaste that many cancer patients experience after undergoing chemotherapy.

Management accountant Nick delivered two boxes of sweets, which had been collected in KCOM’s Carr Lane and Salvesen Way offices, to the Queen’s Centre specialist cancer care unit at the hospital this week.

He said: “I saw the piece in the paper and thought we should be doing what we could to help. A pound for a bag of boiled sweets isn’t much to ask, especially when it helps someone who’s going through chemotherapy. It’s a small price to pay.

“I was really keen to do something because my mum, Jackie, had chemo at Castle Hill when she was being treated for breast cancer ten years ago – and I know what a fantastic job they do. My mum’s fine now thanks to the treatment she received there. Donating a bag of sweets is a small price to pay.”

Diane said: “I lost a friend to cancer a few months ago, so when I saw the story on social media I thought ‘what’s a bag of sweets compared to what patients have to go through day after day’.” 

Nick and Diane are now planning on making the collection a quarterly event – and are hoping to collect even more Werthers Originals, Fox’s Glacier Mints and humbugs next time. Keep an eye out on Yammer for when the next collection is due.

Speaking to the Hull Daily Mail chemotherapy day unit sister, Debbie Simpson, said staff and patients have been overwhelmed by support from across the community.

She said: "We see between 60 and 80 patients every day in the day unit and patients can attend anywhere from once a week to once every month.

"Chemotherapy treatment can lead to patients experiencing a nasty, almost metallic taste in the mouth, and so one of the ways patients can avoid this is to suck on a boiled sweet during the session.

"Other than the odd donation we receive here and there, we generally use charitable funds to buy sweets, and this can cost us in the region of £350 per month as we like to be able to offer a selection to our patients including sugar free options.

"The response from the public to this recent appeal for donations has been phenomenal. Staff have simply been overwhelmed by the outpouring of support for our patients and people's willingness to help us provide a better experience for them.”