A special concert is taking place in aid of TASC, The Ambulance Staff Charity in a moving tribute to a woman who lost her courageous fight against lung cancer.

The Sandra Memorial Charity Gig is being held at Maidenhead & Bray Cricket Club on Saturday 16 September in memory of Sandra King who sadly passed away in May this year. And joining in the tribute concert will be her son Blair, who plays drums for the band which will be performing on the night.

All proceeds from the concert will go to TASC in recognition of the care which Sandra, 59, received from the ambulance service during her ill health.

Sandra, who worked as a pharmacist / hospital manager, died on May 31 following a five month struggle with lung cancer despite having never smoked.

Her husband Graham, who is also a pharmacist, said:

“Sandra was a tremendous fighter, she wouldn’t and couldn’t give up. At the end she was running on ‘empty’.
The one shining light was the care she received from the ambulance service which was second to none. They attended her on several occasions and rushed her into hospital two or three times under blue lights. They were absolutely brilliant, truly awesome.”

“I will never forget their professionalism and the empathy they showed to Sandra and myself, and I decided there and then that I would like to do something for them. I wanted to do something to celebrate Sandra and properly recognise the fantastic job the ambulance service do for us all.”

Graham, who lives in Maidenhead and has two sons, Blair, 24, and Christopher, aged 25, said Sandra passed away after a “truly heroic” struggle with lung cancer.

“If she had been a smoker she would have had an x-ray quite a lot earlier, but she wasn’t diagnosed until the middle of January this year. She had had a cough for a few weeks but you don’t think it’s anything sinister, particularly as she’d never smoked.”

Presenting late with life threatening symptoms meant the challenge for the medical team was too much, and the terrible outcome was inevitable.

Graham said that when the family decided to do something for Sandra they inevitably chose a musical tribute with the help of their son Blair, who drums for the Dischords, a group of semi-professional musicians who cover the music of rock bands from Led Zeppelin to the Foo Fighters, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, and Kings of Leon.

“They are a fantastic band and Sandra was always thrilled to see Blair perform, so they were the obvious choice for this special concert,”

he concluded.

The concert is free to attend but money will be raised from food ticket sales, raffle tickets, collection tins and donations. The evening will also be preceded by an invitation 30 overs a side cricket match in the afternoon.

For more information about TASC, The Ambulance Staff Charity please visit www.theasc.org.uk or call 02477 987922.

 

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