East Yorkshire charity 'overwhelmed' after £115k donation
A charity said its future had been secured after a fundraising walk raised £115,000.Chasing Rainbows supports families experiencing baby loss, infertility and miscarriage and relies totally on public donations.The money was raised by Joel Redhead who walked 140 miles (225km) with his friend Shane from Coventry to Wales before climbing Snowdon. He completed the walk in memory of his nephew Jude, who died shortly after he was born in November 2024.
Mr Redhead said he was motivated after his sister told him about the support she received from the charity after the loss of her son."I feel like it is probably the most traumatic thing you could ever go through as a family," he said."So the fact that Chasing Rainbows are going to have that massive pot of money to support people for years to come is just a massive relief."The charity was founded in 2019 by Sam Catanach after she experienced five miscarriages.It has helped more than 500 families across Hull and East Yorkshire.Ms Catanach said the "unbelievable" amount of money would enable the charity "to do more"."It's really overwhelming for a small charity like us to have so much money raised. It's huge," she said."It makes us so solid and sustainable in terms of moving our future plans forward, growing the service and being able to reach more women and families."
Mr Redhead, who initially planned to raise £5,000, said the walk was also a chance to raise awareness of the issue."Baby loss in any form is such a taboo subject, where people feel awkward speaking about it," he said."I hope that, after we've spread that message online with everybody's help, that people won't feel so awkward about speaking about that."If you have been affected by the issues raised in this article, the BBC's Action Line has details of advice and support services.Listen to highlights from Hull and East Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, watch the latest episode of Look North or tell us about a story you think we should be covering here.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Guardian
24 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Disability benefit cuts will affect Wales disproportionately, campaigners say
Disability benefit cuts planned by the UK government will disproportionately impact the lives of people in Wales, campaigners have said. Research released by the data analytics company Policy in Practice last week estimated that 190,000 people – 6% of the population – could have their incomes slashed by up to 60% by the end of this parliament if eligibility for personal independence payments (Pip) is tightened as proposed in a March green paper. The proposals, which are still at the consultation stage, would further compound poverty and exclusion for disabled people in Wales, according to the chief executive of Disability Wales, Rhian Davies. 'It's not just individuals who will be out of pocket, entire communities will be affected. Our survey of members showed that people are angry and terrified and some reported suicidal thoughts, which is very concerning,' she said. 'We must address the systemic failures that keep disabled people out of work and public life before we start looking at reforming the benefits system.' About 900,000 people, or 27% of Wales' population, live with a disability, according to Public Health Network Cymru – higher than the UK average of 22% – and 11% of working-age people, compared with 7% in England. The proposed changes would have a markedly uneven impact across the UK, earlier Policy in Practice analysis found. In Wales, Blaenau Gwent, Merthyr Tydfil and Neath Port Talbot are the worst-affected areas per capita. Trevor Palmer, an entrepreneur from Newport diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1994, said losing access to Pip would 'severely restrict' his day-to-day life and in effect shut down his charity ResponseABLE Assistance, which works on equality issues for disabled people around the world. 'It would ruin my life, to be honest. I'm 70 and I have a pension, but Pip is about 60% of my income. I'm a full-time wheelchair user and I use it for transport and things like adaptations to the car. Without it, I wouldn't be able to go out.' A UK government spokesperson said that most people currently getting Pip would continue to receive it. A review of the Pip assessment would involve 'working with disabled people and key organisations representing them – including in Wales – to consider how best to do this', they said. 'We will never compromise on protecting people who need our support and our reforms will mean the social security system will always be there for those who will never be able to work, and that their income is protected,' the spokesperson added. When the changes to disability benefits were proposed in March, Wales' first minister, Eluned Morgan, called on the UK government to conduct a Wales-specific impact assessment, which the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) declined to do. The proposals have caused friction between the Senedd and the government in Westminster, which promised a 'partnership in power' in which the two Labour administrations would 'work in lockstep' after Keir Starmer led the party to a national election victory last year. Sign up to First Edition Our morning email breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what's happening and why it matters after newsletter promotion Morgan, the first minister and leader of the Welsh Labour party, told the Guardian last month that she was 'losing patience' with UK Labour as she struggles to counter a growing threat from Plaid Cymru and Reform UK in next May's Senedd elections. Recent polling suggested Labour was trailing in third place, with its worst vote share – 18% – since devolution 25 years ago. UK government ministers have said the changes to disability benefits are essential to overhaul a 'broken system' amid growing numbers of working-age people claiming health-related benefits. More than 3m UK households will be hit by the changes to disability and incapacity benefits starting from next year. Official estimates forecast 250,000 people, including 50,000 children, will be pushed into poverty as a result. In Wales, a comprehensive 10-year disabled people's rights plan is under consultation at the Senedd. The DWP also took part in a recent inquiry into Wales' outsized disability employment gap, which Davies of Disability Wales said made the proposed cuts 'all the more perplexing'. 'It's like these changes have arrived in a vacuum,' she said. The Welsh government said: 'These welfare reforms are impacting people in Wales, and we are listening closely to those with lived experience, as well as the organisations that represent them. Our response to the green paper will reflect the concerns we've heard, and we urge the UK government to also listen carefully to what people in Wales are saying.'
BBC News
9 hours ago
- BBC News
Hull woman says Tourette's Syndrome is not all about swearing
Yasmin Bartle was 20 when she was diagnosed with Tourette Syndrome. As part of Tourette's Awareness Month, she opened up about how a shopping trip led to a a child, Ms Bartle said she had "a few little quirks" including involuntary arm movements and making whistling noises."There was a peak when I was probably around 10 or 11 and we were going through SATs [primary school exams]."Ms Bartle said the symptoms became less frequent until she contracted meningitis in 2019, an infection that affects the brain and spinal cord, according to the NHS."We [the family] noticed these little things were becoming more frequent," she one occasion, she said she was queuing in a shop and suddenly threw a bottle across the store."I was so shocked because I didn't know where it had come from or what had just happened," she said. "My arm was always flying out to the side and I had a lot of head and neck tics and a few little noises." 'I was in denial' Ms Bartle was initially diagnosed with tics before being told she had Tourette Syndrome a year 25-year-old from Hull said she was confused and "in denial."She said, like many people, she thought Tourette's was about swearing and she did not swear."I was embarrassed and I hardly left my house," she another occasion, Ms Bartle was in a grocery store and called out "alcoholic". She said another customer thought she was referring to them because they had a bottle in their hand and it escalated into an said: "I'm trying to say I have Tourette Syndrome. I'm really sorry and they didn't believe me."Ms Bartle said things began to improve for her when she said she was taken to a support group run by the TIC Yorkshire charity in Hull."I realised, actually, there are a lot more people here that are a lot more like me and going through what I'm going through," she said. A year after being introduced to the charity, Ms Bartle became a volunteer. She said she wanted to challenge misconceptions about the said, when the charity tells people their child may be experiencing tics or Tourette's, parents feel relieved their child does not which, according to the NHS, is an involuntary use of obscene words or socially inappropriate remarks, is not the worst symptom, she added. Ms Bartle, who has written a book about the condition, said it was the mental tics, the compulsions and pain that most people with Tourette's would rather take said it was important to research and understand the condition and urged those suffering to reach out for Awareness Month takes place between 15 May and 15 June. This year's theme is being misunderstood due to public perceptions often shaped by stigma, jokes, and misinformation. What are tics and Tourette's Syndrome? According to the NHS, tics are fast, repetitive muscle movements that result in sudden and difficult to control body jolts or Syndrome is a term that is used when tics have lasted for more than a to the charity Tourette's Action, the condition affects one school child in every one hundred and is more common among boys. It says over 300,000 children and adults are living with the condition in the UK. Listen to highlights from Hull and East Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, watch the latest episode of Look North or tell us about a story you think we should be covering here.
BBC News
20 hours ago
- BBC News
Breast transplanted to replace cancerous one in 'world first' operation
Five months into a pregnancy for a much wanted second child in 2024, Nicola Purdie found a lump in her right is a nightmare scenario for anyone. But for Nicola this was not a new had already had a double mastectomy, chemotherapy and breast reconstruction after being diagnosed with cancer in a radical idea which she suggested to her surgeon has led to what is believed to be a pioneering world first procedure - transplanting a healthy reconstructed breast to replace a cancerous one. In September 2020, Nicola had just finished with breastfeeding her first child and was returning to work as a geography teacher in her home town of Swansea when she found a October it was diagnosed as cancer and she started five months of chemotherapy at Singleton Hospital, followed by the double now 38, said: "Even though I only had cancer in the one breast, my maternal aunty and maternal grandmother also had had breast cancer previously. I thought 'I'm young, let's just get rid of everything and do as much as we can'."She had reconstructive surgery using skin and tissue from her abdomen in a procedure known as a DIEP (deep inferior epigastric perforator) flap. "It meant I had natural breasts which would grow and shrink with my bodyweight over time and I wouldn't need implants that would need changing in 10 or 15 years," she the cancer was oestrogen-fuelled, she was placed on hormone suppression therapy for at least two years. 'This is not a coincidence. This is cancer' "We knew at the time I was diagnosed that we wanted to have another baby eventually, so we waited for two-and-a-half years actually."All the oncologists we saw were of the same opinion that I was at no increased risk, because I'd had a complete pathological response [no sign of cancer post-treatment]."Then lump number two appeared. Nicola explained: "This time it was in the skin of the breast because that was the only tissue that was remaining really from the first surgery. There must have been some cancer cells there."I knew straight away as soon as I found the lump, this is not a coincidence. This is cancer again." Apart from family and a close friend, Nicola did not tell anyone about the cancer this time. Partly it was to shield her daughter from knowing but she had another reason."I wanted to protect the baby. I wanted him to come into the world and it to be all about him. I didn't want it to be focusing on 'oh gosh Nicky, you OK?'."She attributes this mindset to helping her "shut the door" on thinking about it until her son was of pregnancy, she could not begin chemotherapy, or have the usual scans to establish if the cancer had had some chest X-rays and an ultrasound of her stomach and liver, which gave a degree of certainty, although not "100%", that it remained contained in the breast. She also had a lumpectomy to remove the lump from the breast skin. The plan was to deliver the baby at 32 weeks, at the end of August, but even in the midst of the urgency for treatment, she had an eye to her son's future."I think it was 26 August and I said 'can I put my teacher's hat on now and push it to the week after'. "My husband was like 'what?' But I said 'I've got to give him the best chance'. "So we waited until the first Monday in September and he was born at 32 weeks and six days."Fraser was in the neonatal unit for three weeks. "He went from strength to strength and that made things easier as well because of what I was dealing with. "I don't know how I would have been if he was poorly as well."Nicola started chemotherapy two weeks after giving birth and would go from the baby unit upstairs to have her treatment and then straight back down to her had 16 rounds of chemo which took her all the way through to the beginning of February. Initially the oncology team had not been sure what operation to suggest as Nicola had multiple cancer sites in the right breast area and a tumour in one lymph node. The most likely option was removal and an LD (latissimus dorsi) flap, which involves swinging a muscle and skin from the back to cover the area left behind by the removed breast, but leaving the area flat in her using an implant on the right side instead would not have been possible as so much skin had to be removed, there would not be enough to cover it, or to withstand damage from subsequent radiation Nicola's aunt had had the LD flap operation and she knew it came with an arduous recovery process and possibly reduced range of movement - not an option for her as the mother of two small also knew she wanted "symmetry" - either two breasts or was while talking to her sisters she initially had the idea that, if she did end up having both breasts removed, why not use the skin from the healthy left breast to cover the larger affected area on the it was only once she was in the consulting room with consultant plastic, reconstructive and breast surgeon Reza Arya, that the idea of moving the whole breast intact dawned. She realised it would allow her to create a right breast and have reconstructive surgery on the left side using an implant because there was enough skin left in situ from the first operation in she put this to Reza - "could we rob Peter to pay Paul?" - she "could literally see the cogs whirring" in his recalled being speechless at the idea. "I had never seen or heard of such a procedure being talked about or published. "I wasn't even sure at that stage whether I would be adding to Nicola's care or taking away from it."Reza said it was very unusual to have a patient come up with such a radical idea."Kudos to Nicola because she's amazing. "I had extensive discussions with colleagues all over the UK who are all experts in flap reconstruction from the abdomen. The conclusion was maybe it is possible and just go ahead with it."This is not run of the mill mastectomy we're talking about," he said. "We're removing the whole of the footprint of the breast [on the right]. It is a very, very large area of skin and to be able to close it you have to borrow from somewhere, some skin and tissue, that can withstand future radiotherapy."Left is a side that's easy to reconstruct in future, because it's not subject to radiotherapy and all other treatments, and the cancer itself." When Nicola went into the surgery, she knew she could wake up to very different outcomes - a successful left to right transplant, or an LD flap reconstruction on her right side after all if he decided the transfer would not work, with the left breast removed anyway at her gave Reza her blessing for any outcome. And her outrageous gamble paid off."What makes it a world first is that the tissue has been ported to two different sites," she said. "We didn't know if that would be possible or probable, the microsurgery of actually sewing the vessels together - if it would work or if it would be so scarred that it would be completely impossible."She is starting a few weeks of radiotherapy, and around Christmas time will have reconstructive surgery on the left side using a saline implant. She will be on hormone therapy for the next 10 years to manage the risks of recurrence but has been given the all-clear in terms of this treatment someone who has been through such gruelling experiences, she is remarkably upbeat. How does she stay positive?"If I am having those moments when I feel 'oh my god this is awful, why has this happened to us?' "I let myself think about it for a minute and then move on to the next thing. If you don't allow yourself to think about it, it won't get you down."I have to sit back and think 'this is life. Worse things can happen'. I'm lucky that I've had incredible treatment from the word go, and an amazing team who I trust."She added: "Both the kids were just the best distraction ever. It's hope isn't it? When you see little children. You think there's hope for the future."
