Connie Fisher helps raise more than £10,000 for children’s charity

Actress and singer Connie Fisher has helped UK-wide children’s charity Action Medical Research to raise £10,200 at an Aberdeen event.

The musical theatre star stole the show at the 19th annual Aberdeen ladies’ lunch at the Marcliffe Hotel and Spa on Thursday, 17 March, where she spoke about the highs and lows of being born with an amazing gift.

The sold-out event, which was organised by the Aberdeen Action Medical Research Committee, saw 343 guests enjoy a champagne reception and a two-course lunch before Connie shared her brave story of being diagnosed with a congenital disorder of the vocal cords in 2011.

“We're delighted that Connie travelled from Cardiff to Aberdeen to talk about the devastation of losing her voice and the pain of her struggle to recover - her positive approach to life was inspiring,” says Janet Balcombe, Action Medical Research’s Community Fundraising Manager for Scotland.

“We have received some fantastic feedback from our guests and we're so grateful to the committee for their support, as well as all the students from Robert Gordon University who have worked alongside them for many months to organise our 19th lunch event.”

With the help of its supporters, Action Medical Research has played a significant role in many medical breakthroughs for more than 60 years, from the development of the first UK polio vaccines to the use of ultrasound in pregnancy.

The charity has more than £11 million currently invested in the work of more than 230 top researchers, working on over 75 projects across the UK into meningitis, Down syndrome, epilepsy and premature birth, as well as some rare and distressing conditions that severely affect children.

Among the research the charity is currently funding is a study at the University of Aberdeen’s Institute of Medical Sciences. Around 200 babies are born with cataracts each year in the UK¹ and the study is looking at whether a revolutionary new approach to surgery might give children better eyesight than is currently possible, a benefit that would have far-reaching implications for children and their families.

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For high-res images of the event, please click on the links below –

CAPTION: Connie meets a friendly piper:

https://www.action.org.uk/sites/default/files/downloads/press/connie_and_piper_closeup.jpg

CAPTION: Janet Balcombe with student volunteers from Robert Gordon University:

https://www.action.org.uk/sites/default/files/downloads/press/janet_and_students.jpg

References:

1. RNIB. Congenital cataracts. http://www.rnib.org.uk/eyehealth/eyeconditions/conditionsac/Pages/congen... Website accessed 15 January 2014.

NOTES TO EDITORS:

For more information on Action Medical Research, please contact Ellie Evans, Fundraising Communications Officer, on:

T 01403 327480

E eevans@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 more than 60 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, 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.