Hitachi Capital’s cyclists present cheque hospitals charity
The Hitachi Capital to Capital Charity Cycle Ride (HCCCCR) team presented a cheque totalling £26,806 to the Royal Brompton & Harefield Hospitals Charity following a punishing 375 mile fundraising cycling challenge from the Hitachi Capital office in Staines-Upon-Thames to Amsterdam.
Ashley Westpfel, community & corporate fundraising manager of Royal Brompton & Harefield Hospitals Charity was presented with the cheque from representatives from the HCCCCR team.
The ride began on Thursday 3 September with the HCCCCR4 team travelling from Staines-Upon-Thames to Dover, over the English Channel into Dunkirk, from Dunkirk to the Dutch town of Terneuzen, from Terneuzen to Spijkenisse and finally from Spijkenisse triumphant in reaching Amsterdam on Sunday 6 September.
The funds raised are going towards the Harefield Centenary Appeal which is raising funds for six additional critical care beds in an extended Intensive Therapy Unit – allowing the hospital to treat an extra 250 patients a year.
The Royal Brompton & Harefield Hospitals Charity is very close to all of our hearts following on from the life-saving surgery the hospital performed on our colleague Vanessa Bradley. The ride took place on the second anniversary of her pioneering surgery, and Vanessa made up part of the support crew.
Vanessa was diagnosed with pulmonary hypertension (PH), a disease that affects 4,000-5,000 people in the UK, in 2005. After seven years of taking various drugs and undergoing other therapies to manage her symptoms, Vanessa was told that even with these drugs her life expectancy was 10 years at most. Following this news Vanessa was referred to the Harefield Hospital in Middlesex where, in September 2013, she underwent a double lung transplant. This surgery saved Vanessa life. Six months after the surgery, and after having to endure grueling physiotherapy, learning to talk, eat and walk again, Vanessa returned home. Shortly after this Vanessa returned to work.
Graham Lines, head of operations at Hitachi Capital Business Finance said: “This has been such a great and innovative way of fundraising. It is testament to our colleague Vanessa that so many people have felt moved to make donations and that people at Hitachi Capital have worked so hard to make this happen. We would like to thank everyone who donated, we are delighted to have raised £26,000 including matched funding from Hitachi Capital to go to the Harefield Centenary Appeal. The team were a fantastic group to join on this ride, we have had a lot of laughs and raised transformative amount for the Royal Brompton & Harefield Hospitals Charity’s development of an expanded Intensive Therapy Unit.”
Vanessa’s story can be found here – http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2015/mar/08/whats-it-like-to-be-a-human-guinea-pig-for-a-lifesaving-surgical-procedure
Left to right: Jeremy Johnson; Andrew Upton; Vanessa Bradley; Geoffrey Wigg; Neil Bradley; James Cadman; Graham Lines and Matthew White.
