Morecambe charity fundraising to expand services praises generosity of donor

A Breath for Life, based in Middleton, is appealing for help to improve its services, and is hoping money raised will go towards buying the building next to its current centre to allow it to extend its work.

The charity offers hyperbaric oixygen treatment, which can be used to help people with various conditions.

At A Breath for Life children’s charity, they have one very special donor, Jean Anderson, who lives in Morecambe.

Honorary chairman Jane Dean said: “Jean is a remarkable woman, a retired nurse and midwife who took up hypnobirthing in retirement.”

Jean first met Jane Dean in 1998 at the Boot & Shoe in Scotforth where Jane was giving a talk about hyperbaric oxygenation.

Jean was interested and asked about treatment for her mother, who had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease.

Jane suggested trying oxygen therapy to see what happened, and Jean is convinced that the oxygen therapy helped her mother maintain some cognition for a very long time.

It was proven to her when she was unable to get her mother to Middleton for her regular weekly treatment session for a month.

Jean said: “My mother’s ability to recognise people deteriorated rapidly during her absence, but returned quickly after HBOT was resumed – this was the only proof I needed.”

Jean is the only regular donor to A Breath for Life with a £20 monthly direct debit, which has continued long after the death of her mother.

She said: “You are only talking about 71p per day, which should be affordable to most people.”

If supporting A Breath for Life was not enough for Jean, she also has her own charity, One Woman at a Time, which has previously been featured in the Lancaster Guardian.

One Woman at a Time is committed to the education and assistance of women and girls in an effort to wipe out female genital mutilation (FGM).

Jean has made a number of forays into Africa to rescue girls trying to escape this procedure.

The only way forward is education and Jean has now ‘rescued’ 86 girls by paying for them in school at £1 a day.

Jane Dean said: “Jean is one of Morecambe’s true humanitarians. She has spent a lifetime in caring and can still find time to support A Breath for Life.

“She truly deserves recognition and the team at A Breath for Life hold her with the utmost regard.”

Jean and Jane are both in their seventh decade, so the time really has come to find those 16 to 34-year-olds who would like to help local charities as without an injection of young vibrant personalities to take up the reins, particularly in developing social media platforms to help fundraising, local charities will struggle to survive.

Jane added: “Raising funds is one of the hardest tasks the trustees face. There are so many worthy local causes, all of which rely on public support.”

Contact Jane at www.abreathforlife.org.uk or on Twitter @breathcharity

Contact Jean at www.onewomanatatime.co.uk