A woman who suffered the loss of her husband and her father within six months of each other has generously donated £20,000 to the NHS services that cared for them.

Dawn Barilli has spoken about how the trauma of losing husband Joe Cooke suddenly at the age of 42 in May 2023 will stay with her forever. He died after spending five days in intensive care at the Royal Alexandra Hospital (RAH) in Paisley after collapsing with an aneurysm and going into cardiac arrest. He’d had undiagnosed polycystic kidney disease and had shown no symptoms.

The 40-year-old then suffered more grief when her dad, 57-year-old Don Barilli, passed away in October the same year after battling bone marrow cancer and receiving treatment a the Inverclyde Royal Hospital (IRH).

The mum-of-two, from Greenock, has now donated a huge sum of money to both the RAH and IRH to thank staff fo the ‘phenomenal’ care given to both Joe and Don before they died.

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A district nurse herself, Dawn donated £10,000 to the IRH renal unit, £5,000 to the RAH intensive care unit and £5,000 to the haematology/oncology service at the IRH. On top of that, she has also donated £5,000 to Mind Mosaic, a charity in Inverclyde which has been supporting her and her sons Reece, 22, and Lennon, 18, since their dad passed away.

A further £1,000 was donated to Ardgowan Hospice and money was also provided to buy new football strips for new Scots who have arrived in Inverclyde.

The money has all been raised by friends and family of Joe and Don. One of Joe’s friends walked from Inverclyde to Parkhead in 24 hours while others took part in the Kiltwalk. Other fundraising events, including a memorial fun day on the anniversary of Joe’s death, have also taken place.

Dawn, who had been with Joe for 23 years since she was 16, said: “All of the fundraising has kept me going – it’s kept me sane.

“I chose the RAH and IRH because I wanted to thank the staff there for the phenomenal care given to both Joe and my dad.

“The one-to-one care Joe received in ICU was fantastic. He had the same nurse, Debbie Spencer, for four of the five days.

“She was only supposed to be working three of those, but I remember her staying on and doing an extra shift so she could be with him.

“They were so compassionate and the way they supported us at such a difficult time was amazing.

“I decided to give to the renal unit in Inverclyde because obviously this was an issue with Joe’s kidneys, and the haematology/oncology ward where dad was looked after.

Dawn and Joe on their wedding dayDawn and Joe on their wedding day (Image: Handout)

“I wanted to keep all of the donations local and I want each individual unit to benefit from it.

“I also want to say thank you to the paramedics and the district nursing team for the support they provided.”

Dawn revealed that her dad’s cancer had been relatively stable until Joe passed away but his health then declined suddenly, which she believes was down to the devastation he felt over the loss of his son-in-law.

She said: “He couldn’t cope seeing me unable to cope. His health just declined. And by the October his cancer had spread and he passed away.

“Joe had no symptoms whatsoever. He lived a normal, relatively healthy lifestyle. He woke up in the morning and was absolutely fine. He was brushing his teeth and collapsed in the bathroom.

“I performed CPR until my colleague Gillian Stewart, who is a district charge nurse, arrived and took over, allowing me to stay on the phone with the ambulance service. When we got to the RAH ICU they discovered he had undiagnosed polycystic kidney disease. It had caused his blood pressure to rise and an aneurysm which ruptured that morning, and he went into a full cardiac arrest.

“It was horrendous. The trauma will live with me for the rest of my life.

“He was in a coma in the ICU for five days. He had a brain scan to see if there had been any healing, but it was worse than expected and there was no recovery.”

Last week, Dawn visited the RAH to present a cheque to staff including Charge Nurse Debbie Spencer, Charge Nurse Rachel Burns, Consultant Professor Kevin Rooney, Senior Charge Nurse John Hunter, Registered Nurse Kirsty Thomson, Healthcare Support Worker Helen Fraser and ICU Housekeeper Senga McGhee, who were all involved in caring for Joe in his finals days..

She also visited the IRH as well as Mind Mosaic to deliver her donations and they will go into the IRH and RAH endownment funds.

RAH ICU Charge Nurse Debbie Spencer, who has been working for the NHS for 28 years, said: “It is a privilege to have cared for Joe, and to have got to know Dawn and her family, albeit in the saddest of circumstances. They are a really special family.

“We have been overwhelmed by Dawn’s generosity, with her friends coming together to raise money for the unit, and we are so grateful.

 “It’s a real privilege to work in ICU and give our time and support to patients, some of whom may be at the end of their life, as well as their families and loved ones.”

Melanie McColgan, Director of NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde’s Clyde sector, which includes both the RAH and IRH, said: “Our staff work extremely hard to deliver the best care possible to patients and their families.

“We are grateful to Dawn and her friends and family for all of their fundraising efforts, particularly at such a difficult time for them.

“The proceeds going into the endowment funds for the RAH and IRH and we thank them for this generosity.

“Dawn’s words about our staff and the services we deliver are incredibly kind and I know they are very much appreciate by all of our dedicated staff members.”