Touching Lives - July 2008

One hundred guests enjoyed a tremendous evening with fascinating presentations by some of the very best researchers from across the UK, one of whom flew in especially from Australia!

Bronchiolitis is most commonly responsible for acute respiratory distress in young children. It is usually caused by a virus known as respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), which infects most children at some stage. But while many shake it off after only a cough or cold, others experience much more serious, sometimes life-threatening symptoms.

She’s one of the UK’s best known faces thanks to her impeccable delivery of the BBC’s news bulletins, and a loving mother. But Fiona Bruce is also one of Action Medical Research’s most steadfast supporters.

When Fiona first began appearing on television, she was approached by many charities who recognised what an asset she would be to them.

Fiona first became involved with the Charity in 1999, and in 2001 she was appointed Trustee and Appeal Patron. But it was Action Medical Research that caught her eye.

This is a decision based on unmet medical need, a lack of funding by government and the pharmaceutical industry in this area, and our track record of supporting high quality research for the benefit of the unborn child, babies, children and young people.

Even today Matthew doesn’t come close to fitting the typical profile for a hip replacement patient. At 38 he is still almost half the national average age for those undergoing the procedure. But while most recipients of new hip joints are in their mid sixties or older, Matthew had undergone two major hip operations by the age of 25.

Professor James Fawcett’s exciting progress on spinal injury (featured on page 19) received national coverage in the Sunday Express, in a piece worth £28,000 in equivalent advertising value. The story was also covered by BBC Online, My Weekly magazine and various regional newspapers.

Bronchioles You may have heard it said that the area inside your lungs, in which the gas exchange takes place, is the size of a tennis court, and this may well be true! The lungs hold a very large number of tiny sacs called alveoli, arranged rather like the leaves on a tree. The air gets to and from these sacs through a branching system of tubes starting with the windpipe (trachea), and branching into the two bronchi, which in turn branch and branch again until they come to the very last ones leading into the alveoli. These are the bronchioles.

The work funded by Action Medical Research could have implications for thousands of women — in Britain 50,000 babies are born prematurely each year.

Professor Jane Norman and a team at the University of Glasgow have been looking at the link between the activation of white blood cells in the mother and early labour, studying women at Glasgow Royal Infirmary.

Paige Surtees was born on January 17 this year, three months early and weighing just 2lb. She spent the first four months of her life on the special care baby unit at Newcastle’s Royal Victoria Infirmary, and is making excellent progress. But for mum Tracy this isn’t the first time she’s been through the emotional rollercoaster of having a very premature baby.

Paddington has been invited onto the starting rostrum as part of his 50th anniversary celebrations, to join a yetto- be named celebrity in setting the runners on their way. But that’s not all. Once the runners have passed the start line, Paddington will leap off the rostrum and himself begin the 13-mile race.

Mark Sullivan, who is bravely donning the Paddington running suit, will endeavour to overtake as many other runners as possible, even though he’ll be among the last to start!

Bring Your Bear is held every year to mark the birthday of our fundraising mascot, and everyone’s favourite, Paddington Bear. Schools, businesses and organisations are invited to bring their teddies along for the day in exchange for a £1 donation to Action Medical Research’s Touching Tiny Lives appeal. This year’s success is especially fitting as 2008 is also Paddington’s 50th anniversary year.

The Forest of Arden Bike Ride kicked off the cycling season in style with 270 riders taking on the 30-, 60- or 100-mile routes through glorious Warwickshire countryside.

On the day of the relaunch, February 26, the issue of premature birth was highlighted as a lead story on BBC Breakfast News, with three live broadcasts taking place throughout the morning from the neonatal intensive care unit at Leicester’s Royal Infirmary.

Why is it so dangerous to spend too much time in the sun? We’re all aware of the risk of developing skin cancer, which is a real risk and should be taken seriously, but overexposure to the sun can have more immediate effects on our health too. Heat exhaustion and heat stroke can come on very suddenly after too long in the sun, and can have serious consequences if untreated. Another effect can be an allergic reaction in the form of red, itchy patches on the skin, called polymorphic light eruption.