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The current Miss Scotland, Lucy Kerr, has helped UK-wide children’s charity Action Medical Research to raise over £21,500 at a special ‘Sparkle for Action’ event in Glasgow.
More than 200 people attended the fabulous Oran Mor on Saturday, 25 March, and were entertained with live music from the St Andrews Sisters and a Michael Bublé tribute act. Radio presenters Garry Spence and Paul Harper hosted the event which included a raffle, fun games and auction with some amazing prizes – including tickets to see Ed Sheeran!
A total of £21, 610 was raised which will help support a study in Glasgow to develop new and improved treatments for neuroblastoma, a type of cancer which starts in the nerve cells. It is a cause which Lucy feels very passionate about: “I have chosen to support this charity because cancer has affected members in my family and is very close to my heart. I am delighted to have raised this money and will continue working hard to achieve my target of £50,000 by the end of the year.”
Around 100 children are diagnosed with a cancer called neuroblastoma each year in the UK.1,2 Most are young – less than five years old.3,4 Although treatment often proves life-saving, it has side effects and doesn’t always work. Sadly, around a third of children lose their lives within five years of being diagnosed with neuroblastoma.4 Professor Robert Mairs, of Glasgow’s Institute of Cancer Sciences, is developing a new combination treatment in the hope of reducing the suffering that’s associated with side effects and saving more children’s lives.
Action Medical Research and Neuroblastoma UK are together funding this study.
“We’d like to thank Lucy Kerr for supporting Action Medical Research and for everyone who came along to the ‘Sparkle for Action event” says Janet Balcombe, Action Medical Research’s Community Fundraising Manager for Scotland.
“It was such a fun evening which really would not have been possible without the hard work of so many people. Everyone from the comperes to the amazingly talented singers helped make this a night to remember.”
Action Medical Research is a UK-wide children’s charity which funds desperately needed research to tackle the diseases that devastate the lives of so many of our children. It has been funding medical breakthroughs since it began in 1952 including helping to introduce the first polio vaccines in the UK, developing the use of ultrasound in pregnancy and testing the rubella vaccine.
The charity is currently funding research into conditions including asthma, prematurity, epilepsy, meningitis, cerebral palsy, brain cancer and some rare and distressing conditions.
- ENDS -
Photos provided by Jock Brown. Please credit when using.
To download a picture of Lucy Kerr at the Sparkle for Action event, please click here:
https://www.action.org.uk/sites/default/files/downloads/press/miss-scotland-oran-mor.jpg
To download a picture of Lucy Kerr with her parents – Jill and Simon Kerr – please click here:
https://www.action.org.uk/sites/default/files/downloads/press/sparkle-for-action-lucy-mum-dad.jpg
To read more about the research mentioned above, please visit:
https://www.action.org.uk/research/neuroblastoma-developing-new-treatment-young-children-cancer
References:
1. NHS Choices. Neuroblastoma. http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/neuroblastoma/Pages/Introduction.aspx Website accessed 25 June 2014.
2. The Neuroblastoma Society. Home page. http://neuroblastoma.org.uk/ Website accessed 25 June 2014.
3. The Neuroblastoma Society. Neuroblastoma FAQs. http://neuroblastoma.org.uk/families/neuroblastoma-faqs/ Website accessed 30 June 2014.
4. Cancer Research UK. Childhood cancer survival statistics. http://www.cancerresearchuk.org/cancer-info/cancerstats/childhoodcancer/... Website accessed 16 September 2014.
NOTES TO EDITORS:
For more information on Action Medical Research, contact Peter Denton, Fundraising Communications Officer, on:
T: 01403 327480
E:pdenton@action.org.uk
W: action.org.uk
Follow us on Twitter at @actionmedres and @amr_events
Like our Facebook page at facebook.com/actionmedres
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Action Medical Research is a leading UK-wide charity saving and changing children’s lives through medical research. For 65 years we’ve helped pioneer ways to prevent disease and develop treatments benefiting millions of people. Our research has helped to beat polio in the UK, develop ultrasound in pregnancy, fight meningitis and prevent stillbirths. But we urgently need to develop more new treatments and cures for sick babies and children and we can’t do it without you.
Join our fight for little lives today.
Charity reg. nos 208701 and SC039284.