The Ruby Goodhew Foundation will help others follow in caring West Norfolk and Fenland-based vet’s footsteps
The grieving family of a woman whose main ambition was to care for animals has launched a trust fund in her memory on the anniversary of her death.
The Ruby Goodhew Foundation was founded in July 2024, nine months after Ruby’s death with the sole aim of helping others follow in her footsteps and become veterinary nurses, and it was officially launched on Monday.
Ruby Cabral (née Goodhew), 28, from Wisbech, lost her five-year battle with acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) on October 28 2023, leaving behind her new husband of just 24 hours, Sergio Cabral, and her grieving family.
However, rather than dwell on the heartbreak of Ruby’s death, her family – mum Krissy Hobbs, stepdad Garry Hobbs, dad Jamie Broughton, brothers George and Jack Broughton, and sister Rosie Barritt – together with Sergio decided to do something positive in her name.
A year on and that ambition has become a reality with the launch of the foundation alongside a fundraising appeal to help provide the necessary funds to help others take up Ruby’s dream job.
Right from a young age, Ruby loved animals and she achieved her ambition of qualifying as a veterinary nurse despite becoming very unwell as she was about to take her final exams.
She started to become unwell as she approached her final practical exams (the OSCEs) in the summer of 2018.
Ruby still managed to complete her OSCEs but just days later, she was admitted into Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge in a critical state and was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukaemia. Immediately starting chemotherapy, Ruby’s life changed forever.
While undergoing intensive chemotherapy, she received the news she had qualified and opened her RCVS certificate and badge in her hospital bed.
She was so proud to finally be a Registered Veterinary Nurse and worked at multiple practices Medivet in Wisbech, Long Sutton, and South Wootton as well as at Terrington Vets.
She was extremely passionate about patient welfare, improving industry standards, and professional development.
Ruby showed support to those in training and was eager to become a clinical coach for the next generation of students.
Her family hopes the Ruby Goodhew Foundation will help achieve that ambition in her memory.
A huge part of Ruby’s adult life was spent receiving treatment, but leukaemia did not define Ruby.
She always identified as a Veterinary Nurse, determined to get back to nursing her patients.
On the foundation's website, it says: “Ruby never got the chance to make the difference she wanted in her industry. But there is the opportunity to support those who come after her.
“Let her legacy not be of Leukaemia and sickness, but of supporting other young nurses be the best nurse they can be.”
To donate, visit Justgiving and search Ruby Goodhew Foundation.
For more details on the foundation itself, visit the website: www.therubygoodhewfoundation.co.uk
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