A team from Allied Irish Bank (GB) Birmingham City Office will be running in Birmingham's Half Marathon on 24th October this year and they are looking for your help to raise money for two very worthy local Charities, The Maria Watt Foundation and Get Ahead.

Any money that you could give to support and encourage us on our run would be greatly appreciated. We would welcome support from anyone on the day who wishes to attend and cheer us on while we puff and pant around the course!

The Maria Watt Birmingham Foundation for Childhood & Teenage Leukaemia. A charity created by Ken & Diane Watt, a colleague at AIB, in memory of their daughter Maria, who they lost to Leukaemia in 2005. What better way of telling you about the charity than a current report from Diane:-

We have achieved our initial aims of a) Providing funding for the Teenage Unit at Birmingham Childrens Hospital and b) Providing funding towards a number of Research projects.  Our focus for 2011/2012 is to work towards our remaining aims of c) Raising Awareness and d) Providing Support.

Raising Awareness - We have set up a new campaign specifically about Awareness of Cancer in Children and Teenagers.  We have a new website and facebook page with about 9,000 supporters so far - www.bechildcanceraware.org. This is the first stage of this campaign and we are raising funds in order to produce an Awareness Card which will detail the signs and symptoms of Cancer in Children and Teenagers.  This Awareness Card will be produced and delivered to every school in the UK.

Providing Support - Whilst we cannot provide emotional support, we can do something practical.  Our aim over the next 2 years is to introduce a new programme of support which is called Beads of Courage.  I have spoken to a number of hospitals about the BOC programme and they are keen to have it introduced.  BOC provides a support mechanism for children, teenagers, parents, carers, nursing/medical staff.  When a young person is diagnosed, they will be given a string with a number of beads that spells out their name.  As they go for each treatment be it chemotheraphy, radiotherapy, blood transfusion, platelet transfusion, hospital appointment etc......they will be given a Bead of Courage.  There are different beads for different treatments.  Over time, the beads build up to tell their own story.  It is a useful tool to help with talking to children and young people about the different stages of treatment and provides encouragement particularly to younger children who may be fearful of certain therapies - usually needles!! 

Get-A-head

The ‘Get A-Head’ Charitable Trust was founded in 1994. Their aim is to support adults and children in the Birmingham community with head and neck diseases, but especially those with cancer. Their three main funding areas are:

Equipment

Diagnosis of a patient’s complaint is the keystone to treating a condition. Accurate diagnosis and treatment is facilitated by state-of-the-art equipment.

Research

Unless we can understand how a disease works at its most basic level, it is difficult to develop new treatments. Sometimes, these developments take a long time and are expensive to set up. The Trust continues to fund research and positive outcomes are always welcome.

Education

The trust funds two complementary Therapists and two Research Fellows who are based at the University. The Aromatherapy / Reflexology, Acupuncture & Chinese Massage service is free to patients and proves itself to be extremely beneficial. This year they have expanded upon our alternative therapy sessions by introducing Acupuncture & Chinese Massage to help with pain relief and aid relaxation. Through this, some patients have been able to reduce or completely eliminate their medication. They concentrate on quality of life issues for patients because the impact of surgery on the head and neck can be quite enormous. While the effects of some cancers, such as stomach and breast, can be disguised, there is no way of hiding the ravages of the disease when it affects the face or neck.

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity and make sure Gift Aid is reclaimed on every eligible donation by a UK taxpayer. So it’s the most efficient way to donate - I raise more, whilst saving time and cutting costs for the charity.

So please dig deep, donate now and help us support these two very worthy causes.