The Pavers Foundation is overjoyed to have donated an astonishing £10,000 to The Diamond Blackfan Anaemia Charity (DBA UK).
Diamond Blackfan Anaemia is a rare, life threatening condition where a person's bone marrow fails to produce red blood cells. Affecting over 125 people in the UK and 700 worldwide, this condition is usually treated through monthly blood transfusions to bring their red blood cell count back up to an acceptable level.
DBA UK provide life-changing support for families who are affected by Diamond Blackfan Anaemia and fund vital research into the condition, with hopes to one day find a cure.
David Stone, an employee at Pavers Head Office in York, applied through the Pavers Foundation grant application scheme for the life-changing donation, to help support members of the community who suffer from the rare blood condition, and in particular his nephew William Rhodes.
William is 8 years old and lives in York with his family. William has survived on regular blood transfusions since birth and to date has received nearly 150 red cell transfusions. William receives a blood transfusion every 3 weeks at the Leeds General Infirmary, he attends many other hospital appointments and has daily treatment at home to prevent his body being damaged by excess iron, which can be caused by many blood transfusions. If this excess iron is not successfully removed from his body he would become severely ill.
Caroline Rhodes, Williams mum, told us how much she values to support of DBA UK and expressed thanks to The Pavers Foundation:
“DBA UK have been a massive support to us as a family since William was about 6 months old, I’m not sure how we would’ve managed without them. I think without the charity we would’ve felt very isolated and alone. They are always there to show support to us and other families and if we ever need help or advice there is always someone to speak to and provide reassurance.”
“The charity raises money to fund vital research projects into Diamond Blackfan Anaemia, it is comforting knowing that this research is actually happening. Honestly, without the charity, we would be lost and can’t thank the people enough who run it. They are all volunteers who have busy lives themselves and go through so much but they are always happy to help and spend a lot of time making the charity what it is.”
“We try to fundraise ourselves and promote fundraising for the charity as we always feel like we want to give something back and we hope and pray that one day a cure will be found for this terrible illness. Without fundraising and without donations from people like yourselves then the charity would not be here so thank you so much to the Pavers Foundation”.
Mark Granger, Director of Operations at Pavers Shoes and member of The Pavers Foundation Committee with William Rhodes.
As part of their ongoing support DBA UK hold an annual weekend conference for all DBA families in the UK, providing respite and mutual support for patients and bringing parents and carers together with medical professionals.
Caroline told us how important this conference is for William:
“It’s so good to be able to speak to other people who actually understand what you are going through, we also get to speak to medical experts which is fantastic for us all.”
“The children get to have a fun weekend with other children just like them, as William gets older this will continue to provide him with support as he already keeps in touch with one boy he met through going to the yearly conference, we have been to visit his family on a number of occasions as well.”
Peter Redmond, Treasurer of Diamond Blackfan Anaemia expressed his thanks to The Pavers Foundation:
“We cannot thank The Pavers Foundation enough. Every penny is so important to our little charity. This enables us to support many children and families in the UK with Diamond Blackfan Anaemia. We also support research projects all over the world in the hope that one day better treatments or even a cure for this terrible condition may be found.”
The Pavers Foundation is delighted to have donated to such an amazing charity, and we’d like to say a huge thank you to David Stone for submitting the application - without our employees none of this would be possible.
