Leeds great grandma, aged 89, comes out of hospital to hundreds sending her Christmas cards from across the world

An 89-year-old great grandma in Leeds has come out of hospital to hundreds wanting to send her Christmas cards and gifts.
Jenny Leamey and great grandma Margaret Pattison, aged 89.Jenny Leamey and great grandma Margaret Pattison, aged 89.
Jenny Leamey and great grandma Margaret Pattison, aged 89.

Margaret Pattison, aged 89, went into hospital for a hip operation and her granddaughter Jenny Leamey was worried she would never come out.

Fortunately she did and much to her excitement she arrived to her home in Halton to a Christmas card from the people’s postcode lottery.

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Margaret told Jenny how “giddy” the card had made her and expressed her distress that each year the amount of Christmas cards she receives is depleting.

Margaret and one of her 15 great grandchildrenMargaret and one of her 15 great grandchildren
Margaret and one of her 15 great grandchildren

So, mother-of-one Jenny put out a Facebook plea to get her nana some Christmas cards.

Jenny said: “I have literally had hundreds of people tell me they’re sending my nana a card, and not just from people in Leeds.

People from New York, Australia, Singapore and Bangkok have said a card is on its way and when I told my nana she was so happy she cried.”

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Jenny’s mum passed away when she was younger and her grandma Margaret and grandad brought her and her siblings up.

Jenny added: “I would have been in care if it wasn’t for my nana and when she wasn’t able to have visitors in hospital I wanted to do something nice for her.

“I was going to surprise her with all the cards but when the gifts started arriving I had to explain to her and she was just so happy that she would be able to cover her walls in cards again.

“She doesn’t understand why she’s special though and can’t get her head around why people are being so nice to her.”

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Jenny recently moved back in with her grandparents to look after her nana after her operation.

Mother-of-three, Margaret is recovering well from her operation although she has been "really bored" due to losing some of her mobility and not being able to do her usual washing up and cleaning activities.

Margaret has also received some gifts in the post including chocolates, hand cream and a mug.

Jenny added: “The generosity and cards are an amazing thing to come from her hip operation because I was genuinely worried that she wasn’t going to come out of hospital.

“She deserves it, she’s a good one.”

Margaret will turn 90 in January.

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