Dates announced for Remember A Charity Week

[THIS YEAR’S ANNUAL Remember A Charity Week campaign will take place from 5-11 September. The week acts as a focus to encouraging more people to consider leaving a gift to charity in their will, after taking care of loved ones.

It is organised by umbrella group Remember A Charity, which brings together 200 of the UK's favourite charities to help them continue their good work, long into the future.

Leaving a gift in your will to charity, after taking care of family and friends, is the ultimate way to pass on something wonderful for generations to come, Remember A Charity says. Even a small amount can make a huge difference.

Past Remember A Charity Week events have employed eye-catching campaigns to promote the message – including sky-diving seniors, a charity-powered search engine and even the reforming of The Wombles!

Rob Cope, director of Remember A Charity, has commented: “Raising more than £3bn for good causes annually, legacies are a critical part of the UK fundraising landscape; but we shouldn’t be afraid of injecting a little humour into the way we talk about them with supporters. Legacies have a huge impact on the world and the more approachable we can make the topic the better.”

The week is supported by charities and will-writers alike, helping solicitors and other legacy professionals to get the message across.

The coming months will see more details emerging on what is planned for this year’s event. q

Reducing isolation amongst young cancer patients

[YOUTH CANCER TRUST provides secure online support activities and residential holidays for young people living with cancer in the UK. Both provide a safe place for young people to share their experience and reduce the sense of isolation that so many face.

According to the charity: “What’s extraordinary is that 83% of young people diagnosed with cancer experience loneliness during and after treatment, and nearly four in five of them want to interact online with other young people in similar situations.”

Young cancer patient Joely said: “I honestly don’t know what I’d have done without the support of Youth Cancer Trust these last few years, I’d have been in a very lonely place. You’ve made so much effort to keep us all together whilst going through treatment. To have friends and you for support at the touch of a button anytime has meant the absolute world! Thank you.” q • For more information visit www.youthcancertrust.org

Saving lives one sniff at a time

[HYPO HOUNDS provide a viable health care alternative for children and their families by training a Diabetic Alert Dog to detect the subtle changes in the child’s blood sugar levels.

The dogs are trained to alert parents when the child’s sugar levels drop dangerously low or rise too high. This not only impacts on the child but also on the family’s ability to function as a unit, with the registered carer becoming the dog.

Hypo Hounds work is becoming nationally recognised and is literally saving the lives of children – one sniff at a time. q

Giving hope to the one in six

[ONE IN SIX PEOPLE in the UK has a neurological disorder: that amounts to 16.5 million mothers, fathers, sons, daughters, friends and colleagues – more than those affected by coronary heart disease, cancer and diabetes combined. It might be there from birth, be due to a slowly developing illness or the result of a brain injury.

The charity dedicated to raising funds to advance treatments and research at the National Hospital for Neurology & Neurosurgery and the Institute of Neurology – together known as Queen Square – is The National Brain Appeal.

The driving force behind the charity’s work is the aim to improve the outcome and quality of life for everyone affected by a neurological condition. They include brain tumours, stroke, epilepsy, dementias, MS, motor neurone disease and Parkinson’s disease: all of which have no cure as yet. They look to achieve that vision by funding state-of-the-art equipment, major building programmes and life-saving research – over and above what the NHS can provide.

Legacies represent up to one quarter of The National Brain Appeal’s annual income. “They are crucial to the fundraising work we do,” said chief executive Theresa Dauncey. “We’re extremely grateful for every legacy left to us. Leaving just 1% of your estate can make a very real difference and is an investment in the future. The more money we receive, the more support we can give to the National Hospital, The National Brain Appeal’s chief which in turn improves the executive Theresa Dauncey prospects for those affected by neurological disorders.”

Penelope was diagnosed with multifocal motor neuropathy (MMN) in 2004 at the National Hospital for Neurology & Neurosurgery and attends a day care clinic run by a team of specialist nurses. “My own personal journey with MMN makes me want to give back in whatever way I can,” she said. “That is why I have left a gift in my will to The National Brain Appeal. I want to help to fund crucial research into all neurological conditions going forward.” Meta is a former National Hospital patient. She had successful surgery for a benign brain tumour there in 1988. Since then both her husband Penelope attends a day care clinic and sister were diagnosed with run by a team of specialist nurses neurological conditions.

She explained: “My husband was diagnosed with Parkinson’s and sadly passed away just a few months ago. My sister has multiple sclerosis – she’s been living with it for more than 25 years now. These are cruel diseases for which there is no cure and little hope.”

With that in mind Meta has made The National Brain Appeal a major beneficiary in her will.

“The lack of a cure for so many debilitating neurological conditions is a strong motivator for me to want to help,” she Meta has made The National Brain continued, “and by leaving Appeal a major beneficiary in her will a legacy I can be part of something that will provide hope for others.”

You choose

Now more than ever, benefactors to The National Brain Appeal can control where they would like their money to go. There are six specific funding areas for which individuals can make a legacy pledge: • Neurology: funding initiatives to improve diagnosis and treatment, and • provide facilities for those with on-going neurological conditions • Neurodegeneration: supporting projects which help people with • conditions where there is progressive degeneration • Neurosurgery: providing state-of-the-art equipment and facilities for the • UK’s largest neurosurgery unit • Technology and innovation: supporting projects which translate • groundbreaking ideas into better results for patients • Education and staff development: investment to provide the best • opportunities and attract the best people in the field • Queen Square: new facilities and staff-led projects at the National • Hospital and the Institute of Neurology

For those who do not specify a funding area, their gift can be put towards an area with the most urgent need. Without the generosity and foresight of those who leave a legacy, the charity simply could not support the number of vital projects that it is currently able to. q • For more information about legacies and the National Brain Appeal, contact info@nationalbrainappeal.org or view the legacy section of the website at nationalbrainappeal.org/legacy.

[ONE IN SEVEN WOMEN develop breast cancer, making it the most common cancer in the UK. It doesn’t just affect women, though: around 400 men a year are also diagnosed with breast cancer.

Against Breast Cancer is a charity dedicated to funding pioneering research to improve detection and treatment, and increase survival after breast cancer diagnosis.

Improvements in diagnostic tools and treatment have extended the lives of many patients; however, secondary spread breast cancer still claims the lives of nearly 12,000 people a year in the UK – that’s around 1,000 people a month!

Secondary spread breast cancers – called metastases – occur when cancer cells break off from the original tumour and travel around the body to establish new tumours. These can arise in other places in the body, such as the lungs, bone, liver and brain; sometimes years after the primary tumour has been treated.

Kelly Gibson, head of fundraising at Against Breast Cancer explained: “The focus of our research is preventing secondary spread, which is the main cause of breast cancer-related deaths. By working with expert scientists located in world-class universities throughout the UK, our ultimate goal is to stop secondary breast cancer from claiming lives; and our unique approach is to do this by focusing our research on prevention, detection and therapies.”

Prevention: To understand how diet and lifestyle may increase or reduce the risk of secondary breast cancer developing, to provide evidence-based advice

Detection: Designing better tools for the earlier detection and diagnosis of secondary breast cancer

Therapies: How the body’s immune system can be harnessed for the development of more effective treatments and ultimately a vaccine against breast cancer

The funds that supporters have raised has enabled the creation of a diet and lifestyle ‘biobank’, which contains biological samples and questionnaire data from over 3,000 women with breast cancer, who were monitored over a five-year period after diagnosis. It provides a vital resource to investigate why some people develop secondary breast cancers and some do not.

Current research projects include ABC Discover, which aims to identify biomarkers that could be used for earlier detection of secondary spread, and the long-term Therapeutic Antibody Programme, which is designing new therapies to help our immune system kill cancer cells more effectively.

Kelly continued: “In the future, we hope to support new research projects that will increase our understanding and treatment of secondary spread breast cancer. Can you pledge to leave a gift in your will to continue our research? Let’s look to the future and find a vaccine for future generations.” q • For more information email Kelly Gibson, head of fundraising, at kelly@againstbreastcancer.org.uk; or visit the website at againstbreastcancer.org.uk/legacy.