Awareness | The Tom Clabburn Memorial Fund

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Posted by PaulClabburn on Apr 16, 2015 in 2015, Awareness, Cardiac Risk in the Young

“To do nothing is not an option …” @CRY_UK’s General Election manifesto

CRY on the road.

CRY have produced an apolitical election manifesto. It’s well worth a read and you can find it here.

In its own words it “… brings together our key campaigns, including; improving awareness in the general public and within the medical community, providing appropriate support and expert pathology, improving early diagnosis through
screening, improved management of young people identified with cardiac conditions and greater research into young sudden death.”

It calls for the next government, of whatever political stripe, ” … to establish a national strategy for the prevention of young sudden cardiac death.”

Posted by PaulClabburn on Apr 12, 2015 in 2015, Awareness, Fund-raising event

Up for screenings and down the tube for @CRY_UK

Sanda and Kelvin en route.

Our first free screenings of the year took place on Wednesday, April 8, at Drayton Manor High School, W7, and more than 90 young people were screened – a great result when the target is 100 in a day.

Thanks again to all those who have fund-raised to enable the event to take place – the latest folk to do so are Sandra Courtney and Kelvin Walker, organisers of the Ealing Half Marathon, who, two days after the screenings, managed to visit all 270 – yes that really is 270 – London tube stations.

The Walk the Tube challenge began at 4:45am and ended late in the evening. It was led by Geoff Marshall, who previously held the Guinness World Record for navigating all the stations in the fastest time.

The pair raised funds for the Alzheimer’s Society, the Ealing Half Marathon’s headline charity for 2015, and also for CRY, walking in memory of Tom and of Andrew Carter. Andrew took part in the 2014 Ealing Half Marathon but the 33-year-old runner from Ealing collapsed near the end of the race following a cardiac arrest and died on October 1 last year.

Tom and Andrew were among the at least 12 young people aged 14-35 that die every week from undiagnosed heart conditions. We are hugely grateful to Sandra and Kelvin for raising not just funds but so much awareness of what CRY stands for.

Posted by PaulClabburn on Apr 10, 2015 in 2015, Awareness, Fund-raising event

Minding the gap for @CRY_UK and @alzheimerssoc

Kelvin and Sandra.

It’s a gloriously sunny Spring morning so what better way to spend the day than deep underground raising money and awareness for Tom and Claire’s Fund, CRY and The Alzheimer’s Society.

Sandra Courtney and Kelvin Walker, organisers of the Ealing Half Marathon, are part of a group of about 20 fund-raisers who will be spending nearly 20 hours on the London Underground in an attempt to visit all 270 stations in a single day.

The Walk the Tube challenge started at 4:45am and aims to finish at around 11:00pm. It is being led by Geoff Marshall, who previously held the Guinness World Record for navigating all the stations in the fastest time.

Sandra and Kelvin say that as they usually organise races in which others raise funds, this gives them the chance to do so themselves for a change.

They are raising money for The Alzheimer’s Society, Ealing Half Marathon’s headline charity for 2015, and CRY in memory of Tom and Andrew Carter. Andrew took part in the 2014 Ealing Half Marathon but the 33-year-old runner from Ealing collapsed near the end of the race following a cardiac arrest and died on October 1 last year.

If you want to support Sandra and Kelvin’s efforts you can do so here.

Posted by PaulClabburn on Mar 28, 2015 in 2015, Awareness, Cardiac Risk in the Young, CRY London Bridges Walk, Fund-raising event

12 weeks to go before the @CRY_UK London Bridges Walk 2015

We’d be thrilled if you could join Team Tom VIII for the 9th annual Cardiac Risk in the Young London Bridges walk, taking place on Sunday, June 28.

You can register for the event here .

Don’t worry if you can’t fund-raise, the event is as much about raising awareness as cash. After eight years of walking, CRY understand that it’s not easy to keep trying to obtain sponsorship.

So enjoy a stroll through the centre of town to mark CRY’s 20th anniversary year and wear the CRY T-shirt.

Claire believed it was an important way to promote the message that the loss of 12 young lives a week was unacceptable. She was determined never to miss a Bridges Walk. It would be lovely if you could help us keep that commitment alive.

Posted by PaulClabburn on Mar 16, 2015 in 2015, Awareness, Fund-raising event

Mother and child reunion in aid of CRY

Elizabeth and Charlotte

Charlotte Johnson and her mum, Elizabeth Adams, will be running the Edinburgh Marathon in May 2015 in memory of Tom Clabburn, who was in the year below Charlotte at High School, and his mum, Claire Prosser, a friend of Elizabeth’s. They’ll be raising money for Cardiac Risk in the Young.

Charlotte has been running for four years and dragged Elizabeth to her first park run three years ago. They have trained and raced together since, completing the Ealing Half Marathon twice, the Serpentine New Year’s 10k, and the Ealing Eagles 10k.

As Charlotte is studying in Scotland, it was only natural that they take part in the Edinburgh Marathon. It will, reluctantly, be Elizabeth’s first marathon and Charlotte’s second. Both are aiming to complete the 26.2 miles in 4 hours.

Charlotte said: “The generosity of friends and family who have donated make the early mornings, the aches and pains, the exhaustion and the tears undoubtedly worth it.

“CRY do amazing work raising awareness of conditions like Tom’s and making free heart screenings available for 14 to 35 year olds. It put my family’s minds at rest knowing that each of my brothers have been screened and no irregularities found.

“My mum and I are very proud to be donning the CRY t-shirts for the Edinburgh Marathon and knowing that we have raised awareness and donations for such a valuable cause in memory of Tom and Claire will really help to provide a psychological boost when we are flagging.”

If you’d like to support Charlotte and Elizabeth, you can do so here.

Ellen Clabburn said: “I got to know Charlotte on a school ski trip but in contrast to me she’s clearly kept up with the exercise! It means so much that she and Elizabeth are running in memory of mum, Tom and CRY.”

Posted by PaulClabburn on Feb 16, 2015 in 2015, Awareness, BBC, Fund-raising event

Cake bake for CRY’s sake

Food for thought.

A cake bake at the BBC raised nearly £100 and plenty of awareness for Tom and Claire’s Fund and CRY on February 11.

BBC journalist Jasmine Coleman said:

“People in the BBC Newsroom came together to tuck into cake, take a moment to chat and raise money for Tom and Claire’s fund this week.

The BBC’s World Online team organises a fairly regular ‘bake-off’ to bring colleagues together and fundraise for different charities.

This time Tom and Claire’s Fund was the only choice.

Many of us who took part knew and loved Claire and were glad to be able to do something in her memory. Others had never met her but had heard of her work with the BBC’s Journalism Trainee Scheme and were interested to find out more about her efforts for Cardiac Risk in the Young.

The theme for the bake off this time around was ❤️ – a nod to the charity as well as Valentines Day coming up.

Yum!.

The delicious offerings included chocolate and marshmallow cupcakes by Helier, one of Claire’s former trainees, and white chocolate and cranberry ‘love’ cookies by Jasmine, who also completed the scheme. We couldn’t help but think that Claire would have enjoyed Vanessa’s boozy chocolate mousse, and Alix’s Seville Orange meringue pie, and David’s lime and coconut slices brightened up our break.

Together we managed to raise just under £94 – not bad for eating loads of cake and talking to friends. We certainly didn’t need a second lunch after that.”