A retired mum has shown her dedication to her cause by going under the needle to raise money for charity.
Fearless 65-year-old and Kirkwood Hospice fundraiser, Carol Sainsbury, will definitely never forget her latest fund raising effort with a difference, after getting her first ever tattoo.
Calling it her ‘bracelet that I will never lose’, it will also raise awareness of the lung disease that killed her husband.
Carol, who lives in New Grove Drive at Dalton, put her right wrist on the line at the Pro Body parlour in Huddersfield’s Imperial Arcade.
She said: “I’ve done the Midnight Walk for the hospice before so wanted to do something different to raise more money.
“As abseiling and bungee jumps are out of the question I thought ‘well, why not a tattoo.’
“I was more worried that the tattooist would think I was mad for wanting to get one at 65 than the actual tattooing-and in the end that didn’t hurt at all.”
She opted for a three-inch pretty design on the back of her wrist, which reads ‘breathe easy’ in a swirly font and is decorated with red hearts.
Carol said: “I chose that phrase because my husband, Richard, died of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis last year, which is a nasty, killer disease that many people have never heard of but which affects 5,000 people each year in the UK.
“After being diagnosed in 2012 he was helped by the hospice as an out patient and the staff were very supportive.”
She has set up a fundraising page which has already raised £120 but hopes to raise as much money as possible for the hospice by September.
And she seems to have been well and truly bitten by the tattooing bug, after revealing that it could be the first of several.
She said: “It started off as a one off but who knows.
“Now that I know that I don’t find it painful I’m thinking about getting one that’s even bigger.
“Of course it will be for charity again and I’ve thought about having one which will say ‘make every breath count’.
“Like the one on my wrist, I want it to be in a visible place like my arm or leg so that it will raise awareness.
“It’s no good putting it on a part of me that only I will see if I want to draw attention to it.”
To donate to Carol’s fundraising effort, go to: http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/carolsainsbury
