Your Money or Your Stamps...

People never fail to surprise me. The amount of offers of help and support I have had in the last few weeks since starting this blog has been nothing short of incredible. So much so that this post which had been planned for a few weeks’ time had to be brought forward to now. Since Harriet’s diagnosis my family have already managed to raise almost £3500 in a few months. Oddly, it all came about only a few days after we had been discharged from the hospital.

I received my nightly phone call from my Dad, and instead of the usual run down of shopping bargains he had managed to buy that day, he told me to watch Channel Four news. The item featured a breakthrough study into cystic fibrosis and that a potential cure could be found. Naturally we were sceptical as we had no idea at this stage whether this kind of news was reported on a weekly basis but it certainly got our attention and warranted further investigation. 

In summary Dr Anil Mehta and his team had tested two drugs on ten patients of whom nine showed almost no symptoms of CF while taking this medication combined. (Anyone interested in the full version, click here.)  Nine out of ten isn’t a bad result, is it? We asked our team at the hospital on our next visit if this type of news item pops up regularly and they didn't seem to think so. Another positive. It is, however, very early days for this study and to take it to the next stage the research needs more money.

My family got in touch with Anil Mehta who then passed on the details of The Stuart Gordon Fund. If specified, any money donated to this charity can go straight to Anil Mehta’s research. The charity does do lots of other fantastic work in their community for CF patients and sufferers of other chronic illnesses but anyone wishing to donate to the research side of things can do as long as it is made clear when donating where you want it to go.  Another, easier way to help is to save stamps. Not so easy for a household; I know we get very few letters with stamps on these days but we have, however, collected a lot from workplaces and churches. Chris works for Siemens who have been unbelievably supportive to our family at this difficult time and they save stamps for us, as does the school I used to work at. Citadel are the company who will take your used stamps and turn them into cash for The Stuart Gordon Fund. Anyone who knows me or who is local can pass stamps directly to me or members of my family - I promise to make a cup of tea in return! Alternatively anyone harbouring an old, unwanted stamp collection from days gone by could send that in too!

Another really simple way to help is to donate your old clothes. Instead of getting rid of all our old stuff in the odd bag we get through the door I have signed up here. It takes two minutes - every little helps!

My husband, bless him, is going to do the Great North Run this year for The CF Trust. Apparently The Corr family is blessed with a running gene; some family members represented the UK and were invited to trials for the Olympics. Chris does not possess this gene. That alone should persuade you to sponsor him. He has started his training and this picture was taken before his first outing - he's going to kill me for publicising it! My sister in law and close friend are also running so I will link their JustGiving pages below too.

Aside from monetary donations, in five months my family have sold their artwork, held coffee mornings, given up alcohol for a month, donated proceeds from a gig and held a hugely successful quiz night. All absolutely brilliant and we could not be more appreciative and thankful. We must keep going though and continue to think of ways and means to raise money, and keep hoping that one day this awful disease will no longer exist.

If anyone reading this wishes to get involved do not hesitate to get in touch via my social media links. You can also help by simply sharing my blog posts on Facebook or Twitter. You can also subscribe to my blog here so you don't miss anything. Finally, if anyone has any ideas for successful fundraising events I would also love to hear from you. Huge thanks!

If you would like to sponsor one or all three (!) of the following:

Chris Corr

Emily Corr

Marie Nesbitt