The Chappell family, from Exmouth, have raised over £15,000 to help patients on the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital in memory of mum Jacquie.

Jacquie, 55, spent several months being cared for on the ICU at Exeter before sadly passing away from heart failure in December 2014.

In honour of her memory and as a way of saying thank you to the staff who cared for her, Jacquie’s daughters Victoria and Laura, and husband Roger organised a charity ball in April 2016. The glittering black tie event, held at Woodbury Park in April, saw 220 guests enjoy dinner, dancing, a casino and a charity auction and raffle.

The night was such as success that the family smashed their original fundraising target, raising £15,241 in total.

Roger Chappell said: “The total far exceeded our expectations. We had some fantastic auction prizes donated, including signed shirts and holidays, so we’d like to thank all the local businesses who generously supported us.”

The family plan to use the fund to donate equipment to the RD&E’s ICU to help improve the experience for patients during their time there. Their donation includes five iPads, digital radios for every room and shaving mirrors for every male patient.

Daughter Victoria Ford added: “When mum was here she had an iPad of her own and it helped to break the boredom. It made a huge difference having contact with the outside world, being able to catch up on Facebook or the soaps. The ICU staff were all wonderful and showed so much empathy for their patients and families like us. So we wanted to be able to help other patients by buying the extra things that can make their stay a bit more comfortable.”

Due to the ball’s success, part of the Chappell’s donation will also be used to fund a new tilting chair to help with early rehabilitation for patients, by safely supporting them from a sitting to standing position. The other half of the funding for the chair has been generously provided by the League of Friends.

Senior Nurse for ICU Andy Jackson said: “We are incredibly grateful for all that the Chappell family have done for us. We know that our patients will benefit greatly from the new iPads and equipment which they have funded, and being able to purchase the new chair as well is an added bonus. This will make a huge difference for both our patients as they will be able to get their muscles involved in standing at an earlier stage and shorten their length of hospital stay, and for our staff working on their rehabilitation.”