“If you imagine the symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, motor neurone disease and epilepsy all rolled in to one, it gives you a good idea of how a child with neuronal ceroid lipofuscinosis (NCL) is affected,” says Kim Wager, Associate Consultant at Oxford PharmaGenesis. “Currently, there are no effective therapies, so obtaining research funding is vital.”
Thanks to the generosity of our employees at three fundraising events, and a £1000 donation from Oxford PharmaGenesis, we have raised a grand total of £2141.45 for the NCL Foundation. This money will support research into NCL (also known as Batten disease). “All types of Batten disease are rare, fatal diseases that struggle for research support. Oxford PharmaGenesis has made an important contribution, not just financially, but also in raising awareness,” commented Kim Wager.
Our fundraising activities kicked off in December, when Lottie Heath fought off strong competition to win the festive bake-off, and Emma Downes was visibly thrilled to be sporting the cheesiest of all knitwear in the Christmas jumper competition. To help to ward off the winter blues in January, about 40 of us ventured up the road to the Prince of Wales pub for a quiz, curry and raffle evening. The pub kindly allowed us to take over their function room and served three delicious curries. The ADHD Divas were clearly well versed in a range of topics and came up trumps in the quiz, winning six bottles of wine.
A grand raffle made a major contribution to the fundraising. A myriad of prizes were won during the evening, with the star prize – two return tickets on Eurostar (donated by Business Travel Direct) – going to Rachel Faulkner. Other much appreciated prizes were donated by: Alt Communications; Calber Facilities Management; Oxford Thames Four Pillars; My Beauty Room; Oxfordshire Mobile Valeting; Tesco, Abingdon; The Log Cabin, Southmoor; The White Hart, Fyfield; Zed; and individual members of our company.
“We are very proud of the tremendous support shown by our employees for patients and families affected by NCL, and we are very grateful to the various local businesses and colleagues who donated generous raffle prizes,” said Chris Winchester, Managing Director of Oxford PharmaGenesis.
Special thanks also go to Ellie Collins, Maria Dore, Emily Senior and Emma Downes for their superb effort in organizing the events.
To find out more or to make a donation, please visit the NCL Foundation website: http://www.ncl-stiftung.de/main/pages/index/p/515
