The captain of the Solihull Barons ice hockey team has chosen the lifesaving cancer ward that is currently treating his wife to benefit from his testimonial year as he bids farewell to the game.

Rob Eley, from Solihull, will be hanging up his skates at the end of the 2015-16 season and to mark his contribution to the team over his illustrious career the Barons have granted him a much-deserved testimonial year. Rob has chosen the Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust Charity and The Willows Foundation as his nominated charities to benefit from his testimonial events.

The main beneficiary will be the Heart of England Charity’s Ward 19 Cancer Fund. Ward 19 is a unit at Heartlands Hospital which specialises in treating haematological cancers such as leukaemia. Rob’s wife Catherine is currently a patient on the ward.

Rob said: “I have been able to witness for myself the dedication and passion of the staff working on Ward 19 at Heartlands Hospital. They work tirelessly every day to make the experience of their patients as comfortable as possible throughout an indescribably scary time.

“I’ve decided to call the campaign 19 for 19.” explained Rob. “This is because the name of the ward I’m fundraising for is 19 and my Barons squad number is also 19. I’m hoping to raise more than £19,000 though!”

The club have announced a number of events to commemorate Rob’s career including a golf day, a black tie gala dinner, and a sponsored skate with Barons stars. The events all culminate with Rob’s testimonial match in April 2016 against an All Star team comprising of Elite League stars, Great Britain internationals and former Barons legends.

“’19 for 19’ is not just a series of events or a standard fundraising campaign, it is my biggest challenge to date and I hope to unite my team, my town and my community for these great causes that impacts us all,” added Rob.

Uzma Shaheen, Community Fundraising Officer at Heartlands Hospital, said, “On behalf of the Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust Charity, I’d like to thank Rob for putting this campaign together and choosing our Ward 19 appeal at Heartlands as a beneficiary. We wish him the very best for his testimonial year and look forward to working with him to achieve his fundraising goals.”

For more information about this campaign and a full calendar of events for Rob’s testimonial year, please visit www.heartofenglandcharity.org.uk/19for19. To keep up to date with the campaign you can do so on Facebook via www.facebook.com/19for19 and follow @19for19 on twitter.

For more information on the Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust Charity visit www.heartofenglandcharity.org.uk, phone 0121 424 3838 or follow @heftcharity on twitter.