THEY have called themselves the ‘Mac Sisters with Blisters’ and are determined to raise money and awareness for a cause close to their hearts.

A team of more than 20 palliative nurses and support workers are taking on sporting challenges to help raise money for a new purpose built palliative care unit.

Running, cycling and swimming challenges have been taken on by the close-knit team who care for terminally ill patients at the Macmillan Unit in Christchurch Hospital and at patients’ homes through home visits.

As previously reported Macmillan Caring Locally, which has no connection to the national organisation Macmillan Cancer Support, already has £5 million in reserves for the project and will soon launch a fundraising appeal to raise a further £4 million for a new two-storey facility. It will provide specialist palliative care to anyone with advanced, progressive, incurable illnesses including cancer, motor neurone disease or heart and lung conditions as well as giving support to families, carers and friends.

One of the team, Angie Brooks, initially signed up to the Great South Run and asked if anyone else wanted to join her. To her surprise, not only did 10 of her colleagues say yes and sign up, a further 11 said they wanted to be part of the fundraising group and so they set 10 mile swimming and cycling challenges. All the challenges will take place in October.

Debbie White, specialist palliative nurse, said; “The whole team are so passionate about the work we do and when Angie signed up to the Great South Run it really inspired the rest of us. Running isn’t for everyone so some of the team committed to take on a swimming challenge while others agreed to do cycling. A few of us are doing more than one challenge!

“The team know how much of an impact the new purpose-built unit will have on our patients and their families and this will really help us stay motivated in our training over the next few months.”

The team is also planning a number of fundraising events over the coming months including cake sales and a quiz.

To support the team go to justgiving.com/fundraising/MacSistersWithBlisters