AN 85-year-old widow teamed up with her family to raise £4,000 for a hospital stroke unit.

Gladys Hudson and her five daughters raised the money to refurbish a day room for the unit at the John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford.

The room will be used as a place for patients and their families to relax and for doctors to talk to relatives in private.

At the moment the room is in a poor state, with old furniture and no curtains, and is used as a place to store machinery and equipment.

Mrs Hudson, of St John’s Drive, Carterton, saw the state of the room while her husband, Roy, was at the hospital after suffering a stroke.

She said: “I got very emotional in the end because every time they were telling me something it was always worse news.”

When she spoke to the doctors she would do so in the shabby room or in the corridor, surrounded by patients and families.

She said: “When you’re in a bit of a distressed state I think it’s nice to be a bit private. That’s why we wanted to do something about it, if we could.”

She was assisted in her fundraising effort by her daughters, Anne, 59, Shirley, 58, Carol, 56, Helen, 54, and Jo, 52, who live in Carterton, Burford and Buscot, near Faringdon.

She also has a son, Richard, 60, who lives in Australia, 21 grandchildren and 16 great-grandchildren.

Starting small, with a garage sale in February which raised about £200, they became more ambitious, raising money at sales and events.

In June they raised £800 by catering for Burford Fire Service’s annual ball, then in August they made £400 looking after a car boot sale in a car park in Burford.

Granddaughter Becky, 25, also raised £500 by having her hair shaved off.

They initially hoped to raise £2,500, but by October had reached £4,000.

Mrs Hudson said she was “very proud” of her whole family for the effort they had made, saying: “They really put their backs into it.”

The revamp will feature new furniture and curtains and, hopefully, a television. The room will also be partitioned, so there is a proper place to store equipment.

Ward sister Sarah Wheeler said: “They’re amazing. I knew they were going to fundraise but I had no idea it was going to be that much.

“It’s fantastic.”

She said the money will create a “sanctuary” for families and patients dealing with difficult situations.

The project should be finished next summer.

Mrs Hudson said her and her family would keep raising money for the ward in the New Year. She said they did not have a target this time, but would just keep raising as much as they could.