A team from Kingston Joinery along with personal friends are taking part in the Yorkshire 3-Peaks challenge for WISHH (Working Independently to Support Hull & East Yorkshire Hospitals) because we are trying to raise £105,000 for a specialist piece of eye scanning equipment called a RetCam.

This project is very close to our hearts, one of our Estimators, Matt, has a 4 year old daughter, Evie, who has a very rare eye disease which has left her blind in one eye and with reduced vision in the other. Throughout her treatment she needed regular check-ups with a RetCam on her remaining eye to make sure the disease had not returned. The equipment needed to do this was not available in Hull and this meant taking her on regular trips to Birmingham or Leeds. Through Evie’s experience we know how absolutely critical a RetCam has been in her care plan. We now want other children in our area that may be in the unfortunate position of having eye problems to benefit from that experience by having local access to a RetCam camera.

The Yorkshire 3-Peaks Challenge takes on the peaks of Pen-y-Ghent, Whernside and Ingleborough, the route is 24 miles long, includes 5200 ft (1585m) of ascent and our aim is to complete the course in less than 12 hours.

A RetCam is a sophisticated digital camera that takes photographs of the backs of babies and young children's eyes (retinas). The RetCam is used to monitor premature babies’ eyes for a condition called Retinopathy of Prematurity (ROP) which can quickly cause blindness in premature babies.

The RetCam can also be used to check 'shaken' babies eyes and to scan for the children's eye cancer, Retinoblastoma. Children that are too young to sit at a normal adult type fundus camera will also benefit from the use of a RetCam and as such it is essential for the scanning of any young child’s eye.

Unfortunately due to budget restrictions, the Hull & East Yorkshire Eye Hospital do not have the funds to support this purchase, even though it is something they desperately want and have been trying to purchase for many years. Senior Managers and Ophthalmologists at the Eye Hospital along with the WISHH charity have given full support to this project.

The gift of sight is a precious thing and any equipment that helps clinicians maintain that, especially in children who have a lifetime in front of them, should been seen as essential.

Our target of £105,000 is an enormous amount however along with our challenge, various other initiatives and the generous help of the community, family, friends and colleagues, we are confident we can achieve this as a team!

Please have a look at our webpage: www.heyhullretcam.com for more information
and upcoming events.

Thank-you for taking the time to read through the details of
our project and we hope you consider supporting us achieve our aim.