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Paralympian Steve Brown has helped UK-wide children’s charity Action Medical Research to raise more than £8,500 at the 20th annual Aberdeen Ladies Lunch.
Steve, who was captain of the wheelchair rugby team in the 2012 London Paralympics, took centre stage at the Aberdeen event at the Marcliffe Hotel and Spa on Thursday, 16 March 2017. He spoke about his personal highs and lows and the way in which he came to terms with the enormous shift in his life and dreams when he was paralysed.
The event, which was organised by the Aberdeen Action Medical Research Committee, saw 300 guests enjoy a champagne reception and a two-course lunch before Steve Brown shared his inspiring story. Guests were totally engaged with their speaker and gave him a standing ovation.
Steve, who was paralysed after a spinal cord injury in 2005, now works as a TV presenter – including presenting at the Invictus Games – and a mentor, coach and public speaker; in 2015 he was named among the Power 100, a list of the most influential people in Britain with a disability or impairment.
Action Medical Research funded Stoke Mandeville’s Dr Ludwig Guttmann in his pioneering work to rehabilitate patients through sport, developing the foundation on which today’s Paralympic movement stands.
“We'd like to thank Steve Brown for his support of Action Medical Research. He is exceptionally positive and spoke passionately about how when one door closes another door opens. He was a charming gentleman and we all became instant fans!” says Janet Balcombe, Action Medical Research’s Community Fundraising Manager for Scotland.
“Once again, we received overwhelmingly positive feedback from our guests. We're so grateful to the committee for their support, and the students from Aberdeen’s Robert Gordon University who have worked alongside them. And particularly to Maggie Atchison who did a brilliant job managing a relatively new team to put on such a splendid day. All their hard work made the 20th lunch event for Action Medical Research a wonderful success.”
Professor Colin Palmer, from the Ninewells Hospital and Medical School, Dundee, attended the event. He is part of the research team working on a study, funded by the charity, looking into whether or not personalised treatment of asthma could improve children’s quality of life.
Around 1.1 million children in the UK have asthma, a lifelong condition that affects breathing.1 When asthma is managed well, children can lead a full and active life. The team, led by Professor Somnath Mukhopadhyay of Brighton’s Royal Alexandra Children's Hospital, is investigating whether children’s genetic makeup should be taken into account when deciding whether to give them the commonly used salmeterol medicine or an alternative that may give better control of their asthma.
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.
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To download a picture of Steve Brown surrounded by students from Aberdeen’s Robert Gordon University at the Aberdeen Lunch, please click here:
https://www.action.org.uk/sites/default/files/downloads/press/stevebrown1.jpg
https://www.action.org.uk/sites/default/files/downloads/press/stevebrown2.jpg
To read more about the research mentioned above, please visit:
References:
- Asthma UK. Asthma facts and FAQs. http://www.asthma.org.uk/asthma-facts-and-statistics Website accessed 3 January 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
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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.