I back the campaign 100 per cent to keep the Nigel Porter Breast Care Unit in Brighton.

In May, my mother was diagnosed with cancer in both breasts. My sister and I attended all her pre-op sessions with her cancer nurse, Debbie, at the Brighton unit.

None of us drives but with the appointments being in Brighton it meant we could easily get to the unit.

Mum's double mastectomy was scheduled for June 28. However, when the day arrived, there was no bed available.

I phoned The Argus. Thanks to its intervention, a bed was made available. Because we only had to travel to Brighton, we were there within 30 minutes. Mum was in no state to have faced a big journey to get to the hospital.

As a family, we feel it is important for mum's care to continue in the same place. Cancer patients and their families need continuity, not upheaval.

As it stands, mum can see her nurse at the Nigel Porter Unit and her oncologist in the same morning rather than them being miles apart.

We cannot fault the way mum was treated once in hospital. All the nursing staff were wonderful.

The aftercare, still continuing at Brighton, has also been wonderful. Mum feels she has easy access to the Nigel Porter Unit and the support she gets from the staff there.

I thank The Argus from the bottom of my heart, as do my whole family, for getting my mother the bed so she could have her operation and for the commitment to keep this much-needed unit open.

It seems almost criminal the people sitting in their offices can make a decision like this that will affect so many people's lives.

-Pippa Stainer, Grange Road, Hove