Charity Fundraising
We’re supporting the charity ‘Cardiac Risk in the Young’ and raising money for the ‘Bethany Mycroft Memorial Fund’ which will help to fund screening events, and allow us to host our own local screening event for 14-35 year olds. (More info about CRY: www.c-r-y.org.uk)
Student and staff runners are taking part in the Wirksworth Tunnels and Trails 10K run along the High Peak Trail, or the 2.6km Fun Run. Schools are also running their own fundraising events in school on the 12th June.
QUESTION: how much can we raise together for charity? How can we do it? EXPLORE the options – will it be a 10K, a fun run, a cake sale, a sponsored silence?! GIVE it your all, and we’ll SUCCEED!
Donate via our Virgin Money page:https://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/QEGSMAT
Bethany’s Memorial Fund
Bethany’s cause of death was described as a young sudden adult death. Following a post mortem and enhanced testing through the support of Cardiac Risk in the Young (CRY) and Specialist CRY Centre for Inherited Cardiac Conditions at St George’s Hospital in London cascade family screening was carried out and it was identified that her Maternal Grandfather, Mother and Maternal Auntie have Brugada Syndrome. Therefore, as a result of the family history now being known, Professor Sharma (Consultant Cardiologist for the CRY Centre) has concluded that this was the cause of Bethany passing away.
We have now held 8 screening days since 2017 and on receipt of recent information Bethany’s Memorial Fund has now screened 907 young people and 75 young people have been referred on wards for further investigations. Due to data protection and confidentiality we do not receive any further information.
The process involves us liaising with CRY to book screening dates. Due to demand for screening dates the lead in time for this is often 12-18 months.
Once we have secured a date/dates and secured a venue we spend time liaising with CRY’s screening coordinator regarding the suitability of the venue. Once this has been confirmed we then have to arrange floor plans and venue audits to be returned to the CRY coordinator.
We then get informed when the appointments go live (usually 2 months before the event) and then these are promoted via Bethany’s memorial fund. As a fund we choose to lock down the appointments so that local people have access to making appointments. The appointments are monitored very closely and usually depending on uptake they may get promoted nationally by CRY.
On the run up to the event the screening coordinator liaises with ourselves regarding the practical arrangements (opening times, local facilities etc) for the team.
The CRY team comprises of a driver, a screening manager, 5 screeners and a cardiologist. It is important to highlight that the team is made up entirely of volunteers with the exception of the driver and cardiologist who are the only funded personnel. The volunteers are NHS staff (trained in ECG/Echos) who donate their time.
The evening before the event the CRY team usually travel up to Chesterfield and stay in Chesterfield for the whole weekend. The Driver (transports all of the ECG machines and equipment) liaise with ourselves to inform us that the CRY van has arrived in Chesterfield.
On the day of our events the CRY team meet the fundraising team at the venue.
When young people arrive for screening they are greeted by the screening manager and booked in. Their height and weights are recorded and they are then taken through for their ECG test. Every young person’s ECG is interpreted by The Cardiologist on the same day. The cardiologist will decide if a cardiac echo is required. If an echo is required the young person will receive an echo on the same day and the results of this is also interpreted on the same day. Every young person leaves our event knowing if their tests are normal or whether an onward referral is needed. The events run from 09.00hrs to 16.30hrs.
During our screening events we also do some fundraising to help raise funds towards hosting our next event.