“How could I not want to give something back?”
Crediting the NHS with saving her life ‘20 times over’, Cambridge’s Sally Laight became an ACT volunteer to help others – and found it helped her too
“Don’t let anybody tell me anything bad about the NHS: they’ve saved my life 20 times over,” says Sally Laight. “With the personal experience I’ve had, how could I not want to give something back?”
Sally started volunteering for Addenbrooke’s Charitable Trust (ACT), the charity for both Addenbrooke’s and the Rosie Hospitals, in the wake of a four-year battle with colon cancer – which saw her undergo multiple surgeries, chemotherapy and emergency care for septic shock.
Diagnosed in late 2019, the then office manager had her first operation at Addenbrooke’s in the February of 2020, just before the first Covid lockdown. Chemo followed, but metastases were later discovered in her liver, lung and pelvis, leading to further surgeries in both Cambridge and London.
“I’ve got to the stage where I don’t think they can remove any other parts of my body, to be honest,” says Sally. “I was in treatment, on and off, for just over four years.”
One operation, conducted in London in 2023, involved removal of a section of bone. “They sent me home on the Thursday and on the Saturday I went into septic shock,” Sally recounts. “My sister came in to check on me that morning and I was out of it; I can just remember that I kept telling them I was cold, but they kept taking the blanket off me. They called an ambulance. It messed up my kidneys and everything else. . . and I ended up being in Addenbrooke’s for months.
“They really look after you; they really care. This world is fast and furious and everyone rushes with everything, but they take the time to sit down and ask ‘How are you?’ – it’s holistic care. They treat the body; they treat the soul – they treat the person.”
“What is surprising is what it gives you; how it lifts you. You think you’re doing it for others, but my lord it helps you so much as well.”
Gradually recovering, Sally then faced another setback in the winter of 2024, when cancer was discovered in her lung. Thankfully, recovery was swift this time: conducted via keyhole incisions using the ACT-funded surgical robot, Sally was home within three days.
“It was when I was giving my first talk about ACT that I realised I’d actually had experience of several things ACT has funded – of which the robotic surgeon is one,” she says. “I healed so quickly. And when you think about it, to have a piece of your lung removed and be able to go home two, three days later is unbelievable.
“Another thing I experienced is the vinyl wraps on the MRI scanner. It might sound like a small thing, but it makes an unbelievable difference. You’re lying on this bed and, let’s face it, it’s scary, it’s uncomfortable and all the rest of it, but you look up, you see those blossoms and you just breathe.”
Sally, who has both an ileostomy and a stented kidney, says she is now “doing very well”. Having stepped back from her career, after her employer moved its offices overseas, she says volunteering for ACT felt like an obvious next step. “I needed to get out of the house, I needed to do something, and Addenbrooke’s has been so amazing to me. That’s why I started, to try and give back,” she explains.
As well as giving talks about ACT and its work everywhere from schools to Women’s Institutes, Sally supports fundraising events, such as the Cambridge Half Marathon, and regularly visits Oncology, where she talks to people sitting in the waiting room. “Even when people don’t want to chat, a connection has been made; it’s a touch on the shoulder and saying ‘I’m sorry’. Nobody is there because they choose to be, it’s because something’s gone wrong.”
Sally is part of a growing team of ACT volunteers: this time a year ago, there were seven; today, there are 31. With the charity supporting both the new Cambridge Children’s Hospital and Cambridge Cancer Research Hospital, as well as the ongoing work of Addenbrooke’s and the Rosie, ACT is actively recruiting new volunteers. Spanning fundraising and awareness-raising to hands-on support at events and hospital hubs, opportunities are available to anyone over the age of 18.
“If anyone reading this is wanting to volunteer, I wouldn’t give it a second’s thought,” says Sally. “Sometimes I don’t feel like it, but you go because you’ve committed and also you want to; it makes you get up, put makeup on, brush your hair, take care with what you’re wearing – and then you’re a better version of yourself.
“What is surprising is what it gives you; how it lifts you. You think you’re doing it for others, but my lord it helps you so much as well. It’s helped me grow in ways I didn’t expect: seeing other people, the work they do, for no acknowledgement; the friendship, the change of perspective. I think I’m giving something to ACT, but what I’ve got out of it is just amazing.”
Find out more about volunteering with Addenbrooke’s Charitable Trust, please click here.
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