Trudy Baynes Hill: MP's tribute to dialysis campaigner

An MP has paid tribute to a kidney patient who has died after helping to win a 10-year campaign to bring a dialysis unit to a local hospital.

Trudy Baynes Hill, from Aberhafesp, near Newtown, Powys, died on Thursday.

Montgomeryshire MP Glyn Davies said Mrs Baynes Hill was an "inspiration" and a "special person".

In December she spoke of her delight after money for a temporary dialysis unit in Victoria Memorial Hospital in Welshpool was announced.

The satellite renal unit is seen as a stepping stone to a permanent service, which is expected to open next year.

Speaking last December, Mrs Baynes Hill told the BBC Wales News website: "It has been a very long time coming - 10 years at least since I got involved.

"It will make life so much easier for dialysis patients in north Powys, by reducing travelling time substantially, and improving the quality of life, and giving extra time to do other things other than travel and dialysis."

In previous years she helped establish the Powys branch of Kidney Foundation Wales with Mr Davies, and became its chair.

She was also a veteran of several major operations, including heart and lung transplants.

Mr Davies said: "Trudy was a very special person, who overcame huge setbacks to her health, carrying on with a mixture of determination and cheerfulness.

"I first knew her about 20 years ago, when we both worked at the Development Board for Rural Wales, and I got to know her well as we both campaigned for a renal dialysis unit in Montgomeryshire.

"She underwent several radical operations, including a heart and lung transplant, and once died for several minutes before being resuscitated.

"Recently, she was forced to dialysis as her health deteriorated, but Trudy was unstoppable, and was always full of an incredible cheerfulness, no matter how ill she must have felt."

He said Montgomeryshire had lost an inspiration, and those who knew her had lost a good friend.

Mrs Baynes Hill also worked for Radio Maldwyn in Newtown for 10 years, now known as Radio Hafren, where she read the news in both English and Welsh.