YOUNG fundraiser MollyMae Windle will join forces with her dad and fitness coach to tackle the Bradford City Run to raise money for the Bradford Hospitals’ Charity Rays a Smile appeal.
Eleven-year-old MollyMae, of Clayton, is a big supporter of the appeal, which aims to raise £250,000 to make radiology services more child-friendly in Bradford’s hospitals. She knows first-hand how scary some scans can be for children because, due to her Cystic Fibrosis, she has had to have regular x-rays since she was born.
MollyMae will be joined by her dad, Andrew Windle, and her fitness coach, Matt Crabtree, who puts her through her paces every week at the Nuffield Fitness and Wellbeing gym in Cottingley. Although entered into the children’s Bradford City Run on Sunday 3 November, MollyMae hopes to complete the adult 5K race too.
She said: “At three-weeks-old I was diagnosed with Cystic Fibrosis, which is a life-long condition and so I have had numerous hospital visits and appointments at my local hospitals in Bradford over the years. I know how important it is for children to feel comfortable in hospital and how scary scans can be.
“I love being active and, as I have Cystic Fibrosis, it is so important for me to keep my lungs healthy so this was a perfect opportunity for me to enter the Bradford City Run and raise funds for the appeal.
“I have entered the children’s run but am hoping I may be able to join the 5k. Fingers crossed!”
MollyMae’s personal trainer, Matt Crabtree, runs a cystic fibrosis programme at Nuffield Health, Cottingley, to help improve the fitness and wellbeing of children with the condition. He said MollyMae had done really well, adding: “I’m very excited to take part in the Bradford 5K run with MollyMae and her dad to raise awareness and money for Bradford Hospitals’ Charity.”
Proud
MollyMae’s mum, Becky, said she was incredibly proud of her daughter. She said: “She is working so hard at the gym. Her Cystic Fibrosis means she does have to work a lot harder than others, but keeping fit is a big part of MollyMae keeping herself well and her lungs the best they possibly can be. I’m so proud of the work she is putting in.”
Paediatric radiologist, Dr LeeAnne Elliott, said: “MollyMae is a fantastic fundraiser for our Rays a smile appeal and this is an amazing challenge for her to undertake. She is a great ambassador for the charity and is always keen to help us improve our facilities for children who need X-rays or scans. . Her endless enthusiasm for our cause is incredibly generous and we are incredibly grateful to her support. She really is a superstar!”
Hayley Collis, head of fundraising for Bradford Hospitals’ Charity, said: “MollyMae’s dedication is an inspiration! We’re so proud to work with her and we’re confident she’ll do brilliantly in the 5K run!”
You can watch MollyMae talk about how important the Rays a Smile appeal is to her at https://bradfordhospitalscharity.org/rays-a-smile/
To sponsor MollyMae and her dad, please visit https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/molly-maewindle
To find out more about Bradford Hospitals’ Charity and how you can support your local hospitals, visit www.bradfordhospitalscharity.org. Alternatively, contact Hayley Collis or Elaine Drake on 01274 274809 or email charity@bthft.nhs.uk
ENDS
Note to Editors:
Bradford City Runs is a festival of running, with a unique format. One 5K loop is used to create four race distances. The 5K loop of Bradford city centre takes in City Park, Bradford University, the Broadway and Little Germany. For more information, visit http://www.bradfordcityruns.co.uk/
- Bradford Hospitals’ Charity is one of more than 250 NHS charities based around the UK. It supports the strategic direction of Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust by funding projects which go over and above what he NHS provides.
- Did you know that, together, all NHS charities give £1million every single day to the NHS!
- In 2017, a new £28million wing opened at Bradford Royal Infirmary, which was part of a £75m investment to improve patient care across our hospitals. It provides world-class facilities for the elderly, children and a brand new intensive care unit. Bradford Hospitals’ Charity provided £260,000 to enable the Trust to create family friendly environments, state-of-the-art equipment and innovative distraction toys and games for young people.
- With the support of Bradford Hospitals’ Charity, BTHFT was also able to provide more cots, including intensive care and high dependency cots, new family accommodation, a revamped counselling suite and a dedicated room for mothers to express milk for pre-term babies when the new neonatal unit opened in 2015.
To find out more about Bradford Hospitals’ Charity and how you can support your local hospitals, visit www.bradfordhospitalscharity.org. Alternatively, contact Hayley Collis or Elaine Drake on 01274 274809 or email charity@bthft.nhs.uk
ENDS
Note to Editors:
- Bradford Hospitals’ Charity is one of more than 250 NHS charities based around the UK. It supports the strategic direction of Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust by funding projects which go over and above what he NHS provides.
- Did you know that, together, all NHS charities give £1million every single day to the NHS!
- In 2017, a new £28million wing opened at Bradford Royal Infirmary, which was part of a £75m investment to improve patient care across our hospitals. It provides world-class facilities for the elderly, children and a brand new intensive care unit. Bradford Hospitals’ Charity provided £260,000 to enable the Trust to create family friendly environments, state-of-the-art equipment and innovative distraction toys and games for young people.
- With the support of Bradford Hospitals’ Charity, BTHFT was also able to provide more cots, including intensive care and high dependency cots, new family accommodation, a revamped counselling suite and a dedicated room for mothers to express milk for pre-term babies when the new neonatal unit opened in 2015.
For further media information, please contact Kelly Thornham, Communications Officer, at communications@bthft.nhs.uk or call 01274 382265
Twitter: @BTHFTCharity Facebook: bradfordhospitalscharity Instagram:bradfordhospitalscharity LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/bradfordhospitalscharity
Note to Editors:
Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust:
Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust is responsible for providing hospital services for the people of Bradford and communities across Yorkshire. We serve a core population of around 500,000 and provide specialist services for 1.1 million people.
Our 5,500 staff work over several sites, including Bradford Royal Infirmary, which provides the majority of inpatient services, and St Luke’s Hospital, which predominantly provides outpatient and rehabilitation services. We also manage local community hospitals at Westwood Park, Westbourne Green, and Eccleshill.
In early 2017, a new £28 million wing opened at Bradford Royal Infirmary, part of a £75m investment to improve patient care across our hospitals over a five-year period. It provides world-class facilities for elderly care, children’s services, a state-of-the-art intensive care unit with increased single-room provision and a retail concourse.
The new wing is a continuation of our work to improve patient experience after our new £2 million neonatal unit officially opened in January 2015. Our maternity services were recently shortlisted for the Royal College of Midwives’ (RCM) Midwifery Service of the Year Award, recognising excellence and innovation in the provision of maternity care.
In 2017, we also completed a £2m refurbishment of our Emergency Department (ED) as part of an ambitious vision to create a more efficient acute medicine service for the people of Bradford. It has been designed to provide a slicker and more efficient service, with faster senior clinical involvement at an early stage in the patient pathway.
As a teaching hospital, we are at the forefront of education and development in healthcare, and have an excellent reputation for research performance. We are one of the leading centres in conducting applied research in the country, particularly in quality and safety, elderly care and rehabilitation.
The Trust is home to the Bradford Institute for Health Research (BIHR) where researchers have led the development, validation and implementation of the award-winning Bradford Electronic Frailty Index (eFI) which helps calculate an elderly person’s risk of disability, impairment, falls and complications of chronic diseases, as well as their diminishing independence and capability. This is now being used by 98 per cent of all GPs across the country.
Our award-winning Ophthalmology department is home to numerous worldwide clinical trials taking the lead in eye care research and we are one of only three sites in the United Kingdom to be enlisted in the Perioperative Enhanced Recovery Hip Fracture Care of Patients with Dementia (PERFECTED) study, which will investigate how the NHS can introduce better standards of care to improve outcomes for people with dementia.
The Trust has its own Bradford Hospitals Charity: www.bradfordhospitals.nhs.uk/charity
Follow us on Twitter: @BTHFT