A Norfolk woman who lost both her husband and her father in the past five years has raised more than £5,000 to help other patients at the hospital where they were treated.

Sandra Milburn's husband, Charlie, spent 80 days in critical care before he died of swine flu at the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital where her father, Bill Wharton, also died after suffering a heart attack.

Mrs Milburn, from Attleborough, has helped raise a total of £5,400 to provide iPads and stands for the hospital which helped care for her 31-year-old husband after he was admitted with swine flu back in 2010.

She said: 'It was a hideous time. I had a six-month-old I was feeding and a three-and-a-half-year-old and was driving up and down the A11.

'But, I cannot fault the dedication and professionalism of the staff, the support they gave us as a family was awesome. I am still in contact with some of the staff; they have become friends.'

Mrs Milburn said her husband's brain was still functioning 'even though his body wasn't', but he could not speak because he had undergone a tracheotomy operation on his throat.

'The two biggest challenges were communication and finding things to do. Although Charlie was very ill of course, his brain was fully functioning and he was always saying that he was bored.

'At the time the unit only had two or three TVs with video recorders to use, and they couldn't be seen by patients who were laying down.

'My dad had bought Charlie an iPad while he was in ITU so it seemed like the ideal solution.'

Mrs Milburn raised the money, together with her mother-in-law, Jo Bunn and sister Susanna, in all sorts of ways including 10k runs, cricket matches and sponsored walks. The money will be used to buy several iPads and the special stands designed and made by Mark Fowler in clinical engineering.

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