Our fundraising activity has been pretty quiet for sometime, so we were delighted when we were contacted by Mrs Elaine Grey telling us of her plans to raise money for LLMF with a Charity Ball being planned for April 2024. The event is in memory of her husband David (Dai Grey) who sadly died whilst talking part in a triathlon in Swansea in August 2023.
Elaine told us that David was a veteran swimmer and was well liked and respected in the swimming world, and known as someone who always helped and supported others. David had extremely rare blood conditions diagnosed over ten years ago, namely Scleromyxedema and De Mato Neuro Syndrome. Elaine explained that every four weeks, over a two-day cycle, David attended Singleton Hospital haematology department for his IVIG treatment. In November 2022, David suffered a seizure and was in a coma for five weeks. He was discharged from hospital on 24th February 2023 (their Golden Wedding Anniversary). Within weeks of discharge he was back in the water. Despite his condition, he never let his illness prevent him from engaging in his passion for swimming. David was a world-class swimmer and competed in open water swimming and it was whilst he was taking part in the Swansea Bay Swim later that year that David passed away. The event this year has been renamed the Dai Grey Swansea Bay Swim in honour of David.
Over the course of his treatments David was a regular visitor to the haematology ward in Singleton Hospital and he and the family were so grateful to the department and staff for the fantastic care given to him. David’s wife Elaine decided to raise some money for LLMF and other haematology patients would be to organise a fundraising event for LLMF in David’s memory and the date and venue was booked. See the poster for details.