Nurse plans 300-mile charity cycle ride in memory of her mother

Fundraising journey is in honour of former RCNi Patient’s Choice winner Joanna O’Toole

A ward sister is cycling 300 miles from London to Paris in memory of her mother, a former RCNi Patient’s Choice Award winner.

Imogen O’Toole, a ward sister working with older people at University Hospitals Bristol NHS Foundation Trust, is raising funds for Macmillan Cancer Support and The Christie NHS Foundation Trust.

Compassionate and dedicated

Her mother, Joanna O’Toole, was a children’s respiratory nurse at Central Manchester University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. She won the 2017 RCNi Patient’s Choice Award for her compassionate, exceptional care and unfailing dedication to her patients, despite being ill with cancer herself.

Ms O’Toole died in March last year. Now her daughter and her husband, James O’Toole, will be cycling from London to Paris, starting on 4th September.

• RELATED: ‘Wonderful and courageous’ children’s nurse crowned the Patient’s Choice

Imogen O’Toole said cancer had never held her mother back.

‘Mum had breast cancer three times and through all those points she never let it stop her doing anything,’ she said. ‘When she was told she wasn’t allowed to continue working in the same capacity, she came back to the hospital as a volunteer three times a week.’

‘For the charities that helped mum’

She added that she had followed her mother into nursing after realising the difference it could make to people’s lives. ‘I moved to Malaysia after sixth form to teach in an orphanage and Mum had been encouraging me to nurse,’ she said.

‘It was only while I was away that I realised I could make a difference and I called her to tell her I was going to become a nurse.’

The ward sister has already undertaken multiple fundraising cycle journeys, but said this one was special. ‘Mum had always wanted to cycle from London to Paris. Dad and I want to do this in her memory and to raise funds for the charities that helped her throughout her illness.’

For more details, or to donate click here.

The RCNi Nurse Awards 2019 will be held on Wednesday 3 July.

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