O’Neill & Brennan were delighted to be able to support ten charities at Christmas time.
The clients were visited by our team and were presented with their cheques to give to their chosen charities. Below we take a look at the winning charities, what they do and how they use their donations.
Motor Neurone Disease Association
Motor Neurone Disease (MND) affects the nerves known as motor neurones. These nerves are found in the brain and tell your nerves and muscles what to do. If you have MND, this means your movement will be affected and you are likely to get a wide range of symptoms. Sadly MND is life-shortening and there is no cure.
The MND Association focuses on improving access to care, research and campaigning for those living with or affected by MND in England, Wales and Northern Island.
Multiple Sclerosis Society
Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is a neurological condition which means it affects your nerves. You get it when your immune system isn’t working properly. MS attacks your nerves by mistake and because nerves control lots of parts of the body you can get MS symptoms in many different parts.
The MS Society fund use donations thy receive to fund world-leading research, share the latest information and campaign for everyone’s rights.
MacMillan Nurses
MacMillan Nurses are specialised cancer nurses who can help you to understand your cancer diagnosis and treatment options, and support you through your journey.
Donations to MacMillan Cancer Support usually fund a nurse for three years after which other organisations or the NHS will continue funding.
The British Heart Foundation
Heart diseases affect millions of people in the UK and if you’re diagnosed The British Heart Foundation are there to help.
The donations they receive go towards funding life-saving research and providing support for heart patients.
The Prince’s Trust
They believe that every young person should have the chance to embrace exciting opportunities. So, they help 11 to 30 year-olds to find the tools and confidence to try free courses and start careers.
They work with delivery partners across the UK to offer hundreds of free courses, grants and mentoring opportunities to inspire young people to build their confidence and start a career. They are there to support them to achieve their full potential.
The majority of donations they receive are spent on activities that change young lives. The leftover donations are spent on support costs and investing and fundraising so they can help even more young people.
Alzheimer’s Society
Dementia is the broad term used to describe a number of different conditions affecting the brain, one of which is Alzheimer’s. This type of dementia is the most common form of the disease. It commonly occurs when you’re old but isn’t a natural part of aging. It is caused when a disease damages nerve cells in the brain. For most people, the first signs of Alzheimer’s are problems with their memory, thinking, language or perception.
Donations they receive enable them to research into care and cure, provide support and training, and campaign for the right of people living with dementia.
Cancer Research UK
Cancer Research UK are committed to beating cancer by funding Cancer research into all types of Cancer.
The donations they receive have helped fund world-class research which has seen the progress in the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of cancer.
We’ve taken a more in depth look at the last three charities and gotten in touch with various people who help run them.
Rainbows Hospice
In 1989 Harry and Gail Moore’s 5 year old daughter Laura died after battling Leukaemia. Her favourite thing was a rainbow and her parents wanted to create something special in her memory which is how Rainbows was born.
Rainbows Children’s Hospice is based in the East Midlands and they provide care and support for babies, children and young people with serious and terminal conditions. Donations help them in providing wide ranging care including palliative, symptom management, emergency care and respite/short breaks care.
Kate Golding who is Head of Organisational Giving and she had this to say;
All children and young people deserve the chance to play, laugh, and love life, and all families deserve to spend quality time together without worrying about what the future might hold and make as many memories as they possibly can.
Sadly, when children are diagnosed with a life-limiting condition, all of this becomes so much harder. The families we support at Rainbows are going through the toughest times imaginable and we do everything we can to be here for them. We provide end of life, palliative, and respite care for over 300 babies, children, young people and their families across the East Midlands. We help children to live right up until the moment they die, and we support families through each stage of their difficult journey.”
Dravet Syndrome UK
Dravet Syndrome UK (DSUK) is the only registered charity in the UK dedicated to improving the lives of families affected by Dravet Syndrome. Their mission is to bring hope to families through support, education and medical research.
They do this by:
- Supporting families affected by Dravet Syndrome emotionally, practically and financially
- Raising awareness and understanding of Dravet Syndrome among medical professionals
- Funding medical research focused on the unmet needs of families living with Dravet Syndrome.
Dravet Syndrome is a rare, life-limiting and life-long form of epilepsy, occurring in around 1 in every 15,000 births in the UK. As well as severe, treatment-resistant seizures, Dravet Syndrome causes intellectual disability and a spectrum of associated conditions, which may include autism, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), challenging behaviour, and difficulties with speech, mobility, feeding and sleep. In around 85% of cases, Dravet Syndrome is caused by a mutation in a gene known as SCN1A.
Birmingham Children’s Hospital
The donations received by Birmingham Children’s Hospital are used to provide world class care to sick children and go towards making a difference to all those that use their hospital’s services.
We managed to get in touch with the charity to see how our donation has helped.
Jemma Davies from the charity responded with the following;
“Over the festive period your gift helped with special festive entertainment including nativity plays in the Chapel and Santa and his elves in our grotto. Your gift will have also helped to purchase twinkling lights and decorations which added sparkle to every corner of our hospital; this acted as a distraction before operations and treatments, making it a less scary place to be at Christmas.
The best part is, now the festive season has come to a close and the Christmas decorations on the wards have been packed away, your gift will allow us to carry on improving the areas of the hospital that need it the most.”
