What is St Mark’s Hospital Foundation?
Hi – my name is Maxine and I’m the Fundraising Manager for St. Mark’s Hospital Foundation, the charitable arm for St. Mark’s Hospital in Harrow.
I’m currently one of four fundraisers in the Foundation raising money for research, training and education here at St. Mark’s Hospital in Harrow (this is the part the NHS don’t fund). I’m very proud to work for St. Mark’s which has grown to become one of the top national and international hospitals specialising in bowel diseases. Each year we see over 26,000 outpatients, many of whom have disorders so serious that they are referred to our medical specialists from other hospitals throughout the UK. Everyone at St. Mark’s is dedicated to improving the lives of patients suffering from bowel cancer and other bowel diseases. I meet many patients who are very grateful to our brilliant doctors and nurses who do everything from looking after their nutrition, helping them to keep fit, giving them a better quality of life, and in some instances literally saving their lives!
We are very pleased to be associated with the Love Your Gut team to make people aware about the importance of good digestive health. As part of this partnership, we are very pleased that the LYG team will be visiting two of our Trust’s hospitals during Gut Week to speak with our patients and staff. As part of Gut Week, we have also organised a parachute jump taking place on Saturday, 29th August – we have a number of very brave people who are willing to throw themselves out of a plane to help others – they are truly fabulous.
We have many events coming up, such as running, walking, cycling, concerts, comedy nights – and are always looking for people to take part or just come and attend – so as well as getting fit, keeping healthy, you can raise money for a very good cause. And yes, some of us in the team get involved too – this photo was taken a few weeks ago in Hyde Park for a 10k run/walk organised by a couple of ladies whose mother’s both suffer with Crohn’s disease. There were over 150 runners/walkers and we all had a fabulous time – as well as completing our 10k, we met a lot of inspirational people and were entertained by singers, dancers, a band – oh, and not to mention getting to meet the very charming Duncan James from Blue. The event has raised an amazing £17k to date which will go towards one of our research projects.
To find out more about our charity and further information on any of the above, plus how you can help, please visit www.stmarksfoundation.org.