Thank You Very Much, Says Alex’s Wish

Last week saw the annual Supporters Lunch for Leicestershire-based charity Alex’s Wish take place at the newly opened Novotel in Leicester.  With over 150 guests attending including trustees, business club supporters, private individuals, businesses including those who’ve chosen Alex’s Wish as their Charity of the Year, and the newly crowned Miss and Ms GB.  The event served not only as a heartfelt thank you to supporters but also an opportunity to update everyone on the activity undertaken throughout the year and plans for the next 12 months. This event wouldn’t have been possible without our wonderful sponsors Morgan Sindall, Masters Allen, The Partnership Collection, Janine Edwards Wealth Management and Spirit Healthcare and we would like to thank them all for their support.

Emma Hallam, Founder and Director of Alex’s Wish commented on the event saying, “This is our second Supporters Lunch we’ve held and it has grown hugely from last year!  I couldn’t believe the number of people who came along and be a part of the event.  It was so good to see so many faces and to be able to say thank you to them for enabling us to invest in 9 different projects across the past year to help us further our mission to end Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy for all.”

Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy is an aggressive life-limiting muscle wasting condition affecting 1 in every 3,500 boys born in the UK and there are currently no treatments to help all boys and no cure.  Alex’s Wish raise money to fund clinical research, clinical trials and increase clinical trial capacity with a view to developing treatments and – ultimately – a cure for Duchenne.

Emma continues, “We’re not alone in our fight to find treatments and a cure for Duchenne.  Emily Crossley, co-founder of Duchenne UK, joined us to give a national overview of where we are in terms of treatments and the repurposing of drugs which might be able to help our boys.  Emily’s son Eli also has Duchenne and was diagnosed around the same time as my son – Alex – was diagnosed.  As always it was great to hear her thoughts on the promise of Gene Therapy and Stem Cell Therapy and the advances we have made together.  The UK is now a leading centre for research into Duchenne and that is very, very different to what we found when our sons were first diagnosed.”

Emily added, “We have made huge progress, but our work is far from done. Emma, all of the parents fundraising for research, and my team will not rest until we have treatments and a cure for this disease.  I want to add my thanks to all the Alex’s Wish supporters.  Without them, without our supporters from across the UK, we would be in a very different place indeed – and I hope they will stay with us to get the job done.” 

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