Hospice survival prompts nan's teddy bear thanks

A grandmother who was moved into a hospice and told she had 48 hours to live says she has knitted more than 550 bears from string as part of her efforts to give back to those who helped her recover.

Barbara Sheppard, from Telford, Shropshire, became unwell in 2021, ended up in hospital and was then moved to hospice care.

"They told me it was the end-of-life, I was going to Severn Hospice and I had two days to live," she told BBC Radio Shropshire.

The 86-year-old, who has five children and 44 grandchildren, said she decided to spend the next five years doing whatever was within her grasp to raise money for charity.

"I was ill with a twisted bowel and I had an accident in the bedroom where I slipped off the end of the bed and twisted myself," she recalled.

She was taken to the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital then moved to the hospice in the Ironbridge Gorge area.

"However I recovered and I came home. I was in shock, even the doctor there and all the staff were all shocked that I came through the way I did," the grandmother added.

"I had a job to do and I didn't know what that job was but I knew I had to do something."

She was discharged from hospice care in November 2021, armed with a determination to do anything she could to give back to the staff and carers.

While in recovery, she passed the time by picking up her knitting needles and, as she said she was out of wool, used what she had at hand - string.

She knits an average of 100 bears a year and donates them to hospices, hospitals and charities across Shropshire to raise money.

"It didn't come into my head that I was doing anything special, I just love doing it," the grandmother said.

"I'm immobile I can't go out anywhere and I'm stuck in this chair and I just love doing the bears.

"When they're finished they make me happy and then when people say thank you and really love them, I get such a thrill out of that."

Her current efforts will go towards funding Severn Hospice as well as the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital.

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