***Update August 2020 - we have moved the campaign to https://tributefunds.stroke.org.uk/In-Memory/Colin-Rogers - thank you for thinking of Colin, and we hope to see you there***

We are raising money to start a campaign in memory of Colin Rogers so that others can get the lifesaving treatment he was denied. Up to 500 people a year in Wales may die or be left profoundly disabled because of a lack of availability of a stroke treatment called endovascular thrombectomy - an x-ray guided operation where the clot causing the stroke is removed. This has to be done within 24 hours or it is too late.

Colin died at the age of just 55 from a massive basilar artery stroke. He would have been suitable for the treatment (although there was no guarantee of it’s success) but family were told that this treatment is unavailable for Welsh patients on the weekend. During the week there is an arrangement for stroke victims to be transferred to Bristol for treatment if there are beds available. There often aren’t. Colin was taken ill on Sunday morning.

Colin is not the only person to have died because of this ’postcode lottery’ and this is not a new problem. We want to change this. We want to raise awareness and campaign for equal access for patients, such as Colin, who will die or live a profoundly disabled life without treatment. We want to make a difference so that people are not failed by the system as Colin was.

Colin was the beloved husband of Ellen, father of Callum and Brogan, grandfather of Henry, brother of Kath, Mike, Des and Ruth, uncle of Hannah, Tim and Lyra. Colin was a dedicated mental health nurse caring for people with psychiatric and neurological injuries. He dealt every day with the devastating effects of stroke for Welsh people. We want to use his death to help to treat patients so that they don’t suffer in this way.

If anyone has contacts who may be able to help with the campaign, please get in touch at colinrogers.campaign@hotmail.com. Please consider writing to your local MP/Assembly Minister about the issue.

You can read more about the issues and treatment here:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-41469141

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2019/feb/03/scandal-of-stroke-patients-left-disabled-by-lack-of-specialists?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

https://www.stroke.org.uk/sites/default/files/1718.149b_-_psp_-_thrombectomy.pdf

Depending upon the success of the campaign, costs may remain low. Any remaining money will be donated to The Stroke Association in Colin’s name. You can find more information about their work at www.stroke.org.uk

You can find out how the campaign is progressing here https://colinrogerscampaign.home.blog/