In light of the CBRE Charitable Trust Month in October the Retail Department will organize a number of events for our chosen charity. Starting on October 5th fourteen members of the department will participate in the Welsh Three Peaks Challenge where they will aim to reach the peaks of Pen y Fan, Cadair Idris and Snowdon within 24 hours.

 

The charity chosen for this year is the Evelina Children’s Hospital. This is a charity which is very close to us particularly as it has had such an impact on one of our colleagues, Charlie Neil, whose daughter Olivia needed two life saving operations at the early stages of her life. Their personal account is below:

 

Olivia Neil

 

Olivia was born with an undiagnosed heart condition and shortly after being sent home she started to develop breathing difficulties at 8 days old. She was taken to St George’s Hospital in Tooting where she was diagnosed with coarctation of the aorta (a tapering of the main artery out of the heart). It was at this point that the Evelina Children’s Hospital stepped in. A specialist paediatric ambulance was sent to retrieve her and she was rushed to the Paediatric Intensive Care Unit of Evelina Children’s Hospital.  She was stabilised and had life saving surgery shortly afterwards. The next six months were a struggle for Olivia as she failed to thrive due to another abnormality with her heart and at six months she required a further life saving operation. Throughout this period Evelina Hospital  provided unquestionable care and devotion to Olivia whilst also helping to relieve the stress and anxiety of both parents. Without the surgeons, consultants, nurses and staff at the hospital Olivia would not be around today. Her parents are eternally grateful for that. 

 

A bit about the hospital:

 

Evelina Hospital treats children with all kinds of conditions from babies in the womb, through to young adulthood. They are the UK’s leading hospital for paediatric heart services as well as specialists in kidney transplants and dialysis, cleft lip surgery, metabolic conditions, allergy and neurology. The hospital provides 20 paediatric intensive care beds, a 46 cot neonatal unit and 131 in-patient beds.  The Paediatric Intensive Care Unit also operate acute children’s ambulance service, known as the South Thames Retrieval Service which specializes in the inter-hospital transfer of critically ill children in London (south of the River Thames). They deploy a skilled paediatric intensive care team to assist in the treatment of critically ill children, both before and during transfer to intensive care.

 

Why your donation will make a difference:

 

The NHS can only fund the hospital so much, and particularly with cut backs in the health service, Evelina London Children’s Hospital is relying more and more on donations from members of the public. 

By raising money for the Evelina Children’s Hospital you can make an incredible difference to the lives of thousands of children every year. Your donation can contribute to the following:

 

·             Fund pioneering medical care and research

·             Improve hospital wards

·             Buy vital equipment

·             Enable staff to get patients home sooner

·             Give the very best treatment and improve the quality of care.

 

Thank you, Charlie Neil 

 

The Challenge

 

Fourteen of us will head down to climb the highest peaks of North, Mid and South Wales in 24 hours. Given the event will take place on October 5th bad weather is virtually guaranteed. After a 5am start the first mountain to climb is Pen Y Fan which will be a 5 mile hike with 2,000 ft ascent.  Next will be Cadair Idris adding 5.3 miles to our track with 3,000 ft ascent. To finish the day we will climb Snowdon’s 7.5 miles with 3,020 ft ascent in the dark.

The total distance covered will be 17.8 miles with 8,020 ft ascent.

 

The Welsh Three Peaks Challenge Team:

 

·         Brigden, David

·         Acock, Will

·         Bews, Alistair

·         Brenninkmeijer, Andrew

·         Davies, Rhodri

·         Disney, Mark

·         Gibson, Chris

·         Hague, Peter

·         Hanley, Adrian

·         Hodgson, Jon

·         McCue, Matthew

·         Neil, Charlie

·         Prestwich, John

·         Smith, Philip