An inspirational Perthshire mum is fronting an emergency appeal for a national health charity haemorrhaging nearly £500,000 a month during lockdown.
Debbie Matthew’s world was turned upside down when she suffered a stroke at home four years ago.
She was left paralysed down the right side of her body, unable to walk and struggling to speak.
Debbie, from Comrie, spent five days in a high dependency ward and a further six weeks in a stroke rehabilitation at Perth Royal Infirmary.
Now the 44-year-old, who said she would be unable to walk today without the specialist care she received, is spearheading a new campaign for Chest, Heart and Stroke Scotland.
The charity said it is losing half a million pounds every month after closing down its shops and cancelling fundraising events.
Without an increase in donations, the charity fears it may have to shut some of its essential services within a matter of months, while a question mark hangs over the jobs of its nurses and support teams.
The emergency appeal comes a year after the charity mounted a successful £30,000 drive to save a lifeline service for stroke survivors at PRI.
On Tuesday, Debbie, alongside heart attack survivor Euan Cameron and Richard Cowan who is living with lung condition COPD, made an emotional appeal to save the charity.
In an open letter, the trio wrote: “You were there for us when our lives changed forever – and you continue to give us strength.
“Chest, Heart and Stroke Scotland has always been there for people with our conditions, but it is losing half-a-million pounds a month.
“The jobs of lifeline nurses and support workers who are there for us and our families are under threat.”
The letter ends: “Your donation matters. It will fund a nurse to always be there at the end of a phone. It will make sure someone who understands will be there to help in our time of need.”
Debbie added: “I’m a higher risk of coronavirus because of my asthma so I’m not going out at all.
“I’m struggling like everyone else.”
She said: “Chest Heart and Stroke Scotland is a lifeline for me during this outbreak and beyond.”
Darlene Drummond, lead community support coordinator at CHSS said: “It’s desperately sad to imagine a world without our services.
“For many of the people that I support and talk to every day, I am their lifeline to the outside world – without me, there is no one else.”
She said: “The most vulnerable, who are shielding and isolating, and trapped in their houses and their mental and physical health is being drastically affected.
“Often my phone call is the only contact that they will have in the day. Without my specialised support, there is no one else left to help them.”
Chief executive Jane-Claire Judson added: “Right now, more people in Scotland than ever before are in desperate need for our help. We want to make sure we are still here to support them now and in the future.
“The jobs of our lifeline nurses and support workers, like Darlene’s, are under serious threat.”
