People needing critical care at the Royal United Hospital in Bath are to benefit from the generosity and gratitude of the father of a former patient, thanks to a £10,000 donation.
Adrian Hunter, who was 39 years old, spent eleven weeks in the Critical Care Unit earlier this year, having been found unconscious at his flat in central Bath in January.
He had type 1 diabetes and while in hospital, the doctors discovered he had a rare bone marrow virus that proved, in conjunction with other complications, to be incurable.
Last Friday, 29th September, on what would have been Adrian’s 40th birthday, his father Rik presented the unit with a cheque for £10,000 in thanks for his son’s great care and to honour his memory.
Mr Hunter, a retired Royal Air Force officer from Wroughton, near Swindon, said: “Adrian was given unbelievable care and attention from a dedicated nursing team looking after him 24 hours a day.
“The doctors went to enormous lengths to try to find out was wrong with him. Everyone put in so much time and effort to try to save him and, as far as I could tell, no stone was left unturned.
“What the staff do in intensive and critical care is absolutely brilliant, I want to make this donation in memory of Adrian through the hospital’s charity, the Forever Friends Appeal, which will purchase specialist equipment for the unit to help support the amazing work they do.”
Gavin Hitchman, Critical Care and Outreach Matron, said: “This is an extremely generous donation that will be used for the benefit of future patients we care for.
“Adrian was an amazingly brave and likeable young man, one who staff recall as a pleasure to care for. His father too is a considerate, kind gentleman which I’m sure many people would agree with. We are deeply grateful for this gift in Adrian’s memory.”
Adrian Hunter was a former pupil at Ridgeway School in Wroughton and gained a degree in materials engineering at Loughborough University. When he fell ill he was working for Novia Financial Plc and was dealing in a broad range of investment funds in Bath.
He died at the Prospect Hospice in Wroughton on 30th March, with his father by his side. It was where he had asked to spend his final days, as it where his mother had passed away a few months earlier.