Help Val Ranger in her fight against Cancer

We are campaigning on the behalf of our friend Val Ranger

Val has been battling with stomach cancer for over a year now, and the NHS whilst giving her the standard chemo treatments have now told her there is nothing more they can do.

However Val has sought outside the NHS other onchologists who specialise in her form of cancer, and has been seeing a specialist at the Royal Marsden Hospital in London.

Further tests have been carried out paid for by herself and friends, and this has proved to be very positive showing that Val is responding to the chemo to the extent the doctors think intervention could save her life. This comes at a price as the NHS at this point will not step back in.

Val urgently needs funds to pay for the next stage of her treatment, and as she is a valued member of our community who has campaigned hard & worked tirelessly on the behalf of all of us to get things done in and around Our areas, we would like to hold out a hand to help & support her.

About Val

Val lived in Sidbury for a year in 1992 and did some voluntary work for WWII vets who were being denied disability benefits from injury sustained in the war effort. She moved to Harpford in 1993 and shortly after joined the Rainbow Playgroup committee as her boys attended there. She later joined NP school PTFA and became a school governor. She was also involved in admin for the Saturday sports club and became Treasurer of Sidmouth College PTFA. Around 2013 Val became interested in EDDC matters when it was proposed to move the council from the Knowle to new premises in Honiton. She also began to follow local development and was shocked by some of the tactics used by developers and what she saw as a very biased system, with promises made and broken, and different rules applied to different applicants. She joined the parish council in 2014 and subsequently ran as an independent councillor for EDDC in 2015 and was elected with a clear majority. She was re-elected in 2019 and has remained in post since then, now as Vice-Chariman of the Council. She became part of the Democratic Alliance which is a collaboration between independent councillors, Liberal democrats and Green candidates in a bid to put politics aside and work on behalf of residents regardless of their political alliance. Along the way she was involved in ensuring Harpford Hall was retained as a community asset, and has campaigned for the retention of the red bridge over the River Otter to ensure residents have a safe walking route to and from Newton Poppleford and Tipton, as well as safety improvement measures on Four Elms Hill which should finally complete in July.

Val taught at Exeter College from 1993 until going on sick leave in November 2020, mainly working with Access to Higher Education students across a range of pathways; these are mature students seeking a career change and access to university. She also taught first aid courses locally and shorthand to local newspaper reporters.

Her sons live and work locally and are a great support. Friends have been been amazing, accompanying her for treatment both locally and in London, providing food, hugs, mopping up tears, clearing up the house and garden, doing medical research on her behalf, walking and talking and ensuring there is still time for laughter.

Val's illness has been an eye opener in terms of medical care. The hospice care Honiton team have been fantastic as have Force at R D and E. Some practitioners have not been so great, pretty much writing her off before Christmas and offering no hope whatsoever, nor even compassion. It has been a huge battle to get this far in terms of finding appropriate positive medical support. The turning point has been finding Mr Kumar at the Royal Marsden in March. He is a specialist in stomach cancer. Scans he ordered in London have shown that Val has responded well to the NHS chemo she has undergone, and at the end of June he will do a laparoscopy to see what's really going on and what other treatment options are available going forward.

So please if you can afford a donation towards this worthwhile cause we are asking you to help her with as much or as little as you can afford.