A MEMORIAL service for much-loved Grayshott Surgery GP Dr Claire Patten was attended by nearly 400 last Saturday, including family, friends, colleagues and patients.

Dr Patten, whose married name was Claire Pearson, moved to Hindhead in the early 1970s and joined the practice as a partner in 1993. She also looked after patients at Haslemere’s Holy Cross Hospital.

Dr Lance Cavanaugh, senior partner at Grayshott Surgery, paid a heartfelt tribute about how capable Claire was and how everyone looked to her for advice, as her down-to-earth approach was always the voice of reason.

Partner Dr James Lagan said how privileged he was to be Claire’s first registrar at Grayshott Surgery. He said when she took on a formal teaching role, it was clearly one of her callings. She went on to train many other doctors, who all felt very lucky to have had such a wonderful role model. She held herself to such high standards, everyone worked even harder to try and meet her expectations.

Claire was 56 when she passed away on October 29. A year earlier, she was diagnosed with Stage 4 metastatic lung cancer. She had never smoked and it was a terminal diagnosis at the outset.

Following her diagnosis, her husband Robert was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Owing the latest immunotherapy Claire had received, she was able to look after him during his chemotherapy treatment.

Their son Dominic told the service at Greenacres in Grayshott, that lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths in women in the UK. He said Claire’s family were very proud of how she had spoken about her cancer so openly on social media to raise awareness, adding the family wanted to continue to highlight the prevalence of lung cancer in non-smokers.

Robert said how proud he and Claire were of their children Richard, Sarah, Dominic and Charlotte raising more than £10,000 for Macmillan Cancer Support by doing the 2019 London Winter Walk.

Those attending the service led by Geoffrey Willis heard that the family were “quite overwhelmed” to have received 500 letters, cards and messages following Claire’s death.

Robert said: “Few people have shone so brightly, or have touched so many lives for the better. I am so proud of what she achieved and of the family that we built together.

•The family has asked for donations in Claire’s memory to go to Macmillan Cancer Support, Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation and Cancer Research UK.