Reality TV star Stacey Solomon has visited Queen’s Hospital to meet our patients who will benefit from £17,000 she donated to the hospital’s charity after appearing on ITV quiz show The Chase.

The money raised by the Dagenham-born star was donated to our haemoglobinopathy team, which supports patients with hereditary conditions affecting the haemoglobin of their red blood cells.

Among the patients she met was Tumelo Sibanda, 13, of Harold Hill. She also spoke to Mary Ayinde, 27, of Romford, and the pair found out that Stacey had been at college with one of Mary’s close friends.

Kathryn Halford, our Chief Nurse, thanked Stacey for her generous donation.

Stacey said: “I love coming here and am glad to be able to help.

“Queen’s is my local hospital, so I’m really proud to donate and give something back to the community.”

Stacey’s has an even closer link to our Trust as her sister Jemma is a paediatric nurse in the haemoglobinopathy team.

The funding, which Stacey raised after competing on the show in October 2016, is currently being spent by the team on a range of initiatives to improve services for our patients, including laptops to help keep them entertained during treatment, additional training for our team and a machine for checking patients’ blood before treatment.

Pictured is Stacey with Mary Ayinde and haemoglobinopathy nurse Shola Shoyemi.