The Parishioners of St. Mary’s R.C. Church in Newton Aycliffe recently welcomed Mr Joel Dunning, Consultant Cardiothoracic Surgeon from James Cook University Hospital to the Parish.
Earlier this year Joel and his colleagues travelled to Kumasi in Ghana to undertake life saving heart surgery to local people there, many of whom couldn’t afford or access treatment. The staff used their own annual leave and paid their own expenses for the first trip. All costs of medical equipment and shipping costs were met as a result of the fundraising efforts of the people of the North East.
Joel gave an interesting talk about the work undertaken, explaining many of the problems they encountered along the way. The team have further trips to Ghana arranged for October.
The Parish has so far raised £1300 during 2019 and the talk last week raised a further £370. A Parish spokesperson said “The people of the Parish have responded to our Parish Project with unfailing generosity once again. We are incredibly grateful for the support given. We arranged the Ghana evening, not realising it would coincide with the Wimbledon final match as well as the cricket world cup final match. We thank everyone who missed the end of those games to attend our event.”
Fundraising continues with further events planned for later in the year.
