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Anyone who knows me will know that we lost Louise McVaddy and her unborn son, Michael Edward McVaddy very suddenly on the 12th June 2010.  Lou was a great friend and colleague who was 2 weeks away from starting her maternity leave when she passed away, Michael had been due to be born on 9th August. 

What many of you wont know is that Lou had an adrenal tumour which no-one, herself included, knew about.  People I speak to dont even know where their adrenal glands are.  There is a massive lack of awareness about what is actually a very rare cancer.

So... my husband, Sean, and I are climbing Kilimandjaro on the 4th to 14th June 2011 to raise money and equally importantly to raise awareness, specifically for adrenal tumour research.

Lou was a very special person to me, both personally and professionally - those of you who knew her at work will know what an amazing woman she was, everyone who met her or who dealt with her thought so very highly of her, so it is very fitting for such a special person that we will be at the summit of Kilimandjaro on the anniversary of her passing.

We are raising money that will go directly to research into adrenal tumours.  We are raising money for an organisation called Ens@t.  Because the registered office for Ens@t is in Paris we are donating to them via the Claire Khan Trust, which is administered by the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Charity (Birmingham).  The Claire Khan Trust (Fund Number 12-3-187) was set up by the mother of Claire Khan who also lost her life to an adrenal tumour and you can read her story and find out more about Ens@t and the work they do at www.ens@t.org. 

Because adrenal tumours are rare, progress with regard to their diagnosis and treatment can only be achieved by combining the efforts of researchers and clinicians from several countries.  To overcome these difficulties and to ensure that significant process is made, an European Network for the Study of Adrenal Tumours was created.  This is Ens@t.

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 - we raise more, whilst saving time and cutting costs for the charity.

So please dig deep in Lou's memory and for research to prevent this from happening in the future and donate now.