The charity is now 4 years old. Many of you have attended our fund raising events and given generously in the past. We know how important the work is, but we may not always have been great at describing what the charity has achieved, its origins and background, and why it deserves your support in the future. Although we have done brilliantly to get to where we are, reserves are starting to run low and we need to raise significant sums to keep us going.
A combination of personal donations and revenue from fund
raising events has generated over £160,000.00. A major part of our fundraising has been
linked to art. As well as helping us greatly with our fundraising, we
have been able to provide over and above this figure £50,000.00 of revenue
to artists, who have exhibited with us. We carry virtually no overheads,
which means that this fantastic sum of money has been very quickly and effectively
deployed.
Since August 2007, we have used this money to pay the salaries of two research
fellows, Lisa Story and Melissa Damodaram, who are based at Queen Charlotte’s
Fetal Medicine Department, Hammersmith Hospital and Imperial College. The
research is directed by Dr. Sailesh Kumar and Professor Mary Rutherford. The
team are studying Growth Restriction of babies in the womb. This condition
causes death for many babies or long term complications such as Cerebral Palsy. Very
little is known about the causes of Growth Restriction, and how to manage and
treat these difficult pregnancies, which give so much pain to those involved
and tie up NHS resources in post natal treatment. The status of Queen
Charlotte’s means that they have complicated cases referred to them,
which represent a huge source of information. Without the Moonbeam Trust,
this valuable data would never be collated for analysis.
The most recent report from the doctors is posted on the website and describes
in detail how much they have already achieved in such a short time. It
shows how they are able to analyse the data collected at Queen Charlotte’s,
supported by MRI imaging at Hammersmith Hospital and the research facilities
of Imperial College. They have also collated, for the first time, data
from related studies, which had already been published. This is really exciting
groundbreaking research. The findings have already changed clinical practice
and will give the next generation a greater chance of health.
The idea for the Charity came from the meeting of Susanna
White and Dr Sailesh Kumar, who treated her at Queen Charlottes. He was frustrated
by his inability to obtain funding to carry out what he felt was important
research. Susanna
wanted to help and was deeply impressed by the generosity of mind and approach
to medicine of Doctor Kumar.
Although the origin of the Charity was based on instinct, the actions and achievements
of Sailesh Kumar and his team since then have only emphasised how right this
instinct was. We provide the money to pay the salaries, but this was
only the catalyst for the formation of a full scale research programme. Sailesh
Kumar with Professor Phil Bennett from Queen Charlotte’s linked up with
Mary Rutherford. She is a consultant in Perinatal Imaging at Hammersmith
Hospital and has made available the state of the art Robert Steiner MRI unit,
which has broadened the scope and effectiveness of the research. They
are both part of Imperial College, who provide their superb research facilities
and also provide the goal of a Fellowship to Lisa and Melissa. Most admirably,
some of the Research Directors have effectively donated part of the proceeds
from their own private practice to fund expenses and other employment costs
of our research fellows.
This is now a formidable and well directed team and structure. Many donors
to the charity have first- hand experience of the medical skills of the directors
of our research programme. Although one might struggle always to understand
fully the science of what they are working on, we can be reassured by the fact,
that these very clever and committed people have devoted a significant part
of their careers and time and money to setting up and running this research
programme. Most importantly, a structure has now been established,
which could enable this programme to continue after the individuals, who started
it, have moved elsewhere in their careers.
This work is hugely valuable, but would never have received government funding. It
does not have obviously immediate commercial benefits and therefore does not
easily attract Drugs Company funding. This in no way lessens the
importance of the work, but it does make fund raising more difficult.
The fate of some babies at present is not alterable, and either we resign ourselves
to the outcome or we can try to help. From the leap of faith, which got things
started, everyone who has helped us along the way, should be so proud of what
has been achieved to date. We would love to be able to help the team
to build on such an impressive foundation.