Bermuda may be a small island but it is full of unsung heroes — inspirational residents who are making a real difference in their communities and improving the lives of others without expecting recognition or praise. In our regular feature, we celebrate the incredible achievements of the ordinary people who are doing extraordinary things.

A retired civil servant has dedicated more than three decades of her life to helping cancer patients.

Lovett Trott has been volunteering for PALS since the charity was founded in 1980 with the aim of allowing cancer patients to remain at home rather than being in hospital. “Whatever they need that you can help them with we do it and they accept it gracefully,” Ms Trott said. “We try the best we can, for as long as we can.”

Ms Trott, who is in her late seventies, is one of about 70 volunteers who assist cancer patients by visiting them regularly at home and by providing a variety of services, including transportation to and from doctors' surgeries and helping out with household chores, as well as offering friendship and invaluable moral support.

Ms Trott, a former customs and immigrations officer from Smith's, is tasked with assisting two to three patients at a time. “Some people think you get paid for what you do, so they want to make demands on you, but you don't allow that to happen. Then you get folks who feel unhappy about their situation and who will say things like: 'don't get old'.

“Most of them are younger than I am. They think that it's all part of ageing, which it isn't.”

Ms Trott was working at the airport when she was convinced to join the fledgling charity by her colleague Earl Soares, husband of PALS founder Hilary Soares.

“We went through a time in Bermuda when people didn't want the PALS van parked outside,” Ms Trott explained. It was a long time before people really accepted the fact that cancer wasn't something you just caught. They used to talk about it as the big 'C' and never called it by its name.”

Ms Trott retired from her job at the airport in 1997 and she has been continuing her volunteer work ever since.

She said that the most rewarding thing is simply having someone appreciate what she does. “I'll keep doing it for as long as I can, as long as I can see and drive,” she said.

Ms Trott, who has sat on the charity's board, also helps out with all of the fundraising events hosted throughout the year to help raise the annual $1.6 million budget that the charity requires to operate. Those events include the PALS Annual Sponsored Walk from Dockyard to Hamilton, the Annual Fair at St Paul's Church in Paget, the Annual Tag Day, the five-kilometre Peter Grayston Memorial Walk, Bingo games, Mad Hair Day, and the memorial trees set up every December in the Washington Mall since 1997.

“It would be nice if there was more support for cancer patients, but where is it going to come from?,” Ms Trott said.

“We've got people now that don't have jobs. I was in my early forties when I started, but at 40 now, if you don't have a job that is day on, day off, people just don't have the time to give. It's sort of a dying thing, simply because we are all getting older — the ones that can do it. But if you have the time and you can do anything to help anyone out that would be not only a blessing to them but also to you.”

• For more information or to donate to PALS call 236-7257 or visit www.pals.bm

• Do you know an Unsung Hero? Call Lisa on 278-0137 or e-mail LSimpson@royalgazette.com