Cure Leukaemia unveils 100 supporter plaques for World Blood Cancer Day

To mark World Blood Cancer Day Cure Leukaemia has unveiled a wall of plaques to the first 100 supporters who have 'donated their name'. The wall of plaques is at the Centre for Clinical Haematology at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham, a globally significant site of leukaemia research. The Cure Leukaemia Family wall allows supporters of the charity to display a lasting reminder of their backing for the charity by purchasing a plaque, with the aim of funding a specialist research nurse for one year. These nurses connect blood cancer patients that have exhausted standard treatment with potentially life-saving drugs through clinical trials. Many of the one hundred plaques already donated are from patients or families that have benefitted from these treatments.   Donate a name Plaques are available for supporters to donate their name, the name of a loved one, or even a thank you to a nurse or doctor. They can choose to donate the name for a one or three-year period, after which they will have the opportunity to keep the plaque in place with a further donation. The donor wall was designed by Creative agency OWB Creative, which also sponsored 20 plaques in the names of staff that work on the ground floor of the Centre. Well-known donors who have donated their names include Watford goalkeeper and Cure Leukaemia Patron Ben Foster, ex-England and Wolves footballer, Patron and former patient Geoff Thomas and Chief Executive of the Greater Birmingham Chamber of Commerce Paul Faulkner who is also a Trustee of the charity.   Messages of hope and memory   Many people have chosen to remember a family member on wall, including John Bray, from the BBC, whose plaque in memory of his father reads: ‘Clive Bray – our special Wolves fan’. Several former leukaemia patients have also purchased plaques, including Jenna Ostrowski, whose reads ‘Eternally thankful’; ‘CL You Saved Me’ from Brooke Evans, and ‘Forever thankful’ from Jaymz Goodman. Jane Young donated in her daughter's name with the message: ‘Thank you for mending Lizzie Dean’. Cure Leukaemia Chairman Ian Allen and his wife Sarah have donated as has the charity’s Co-Founder Graham Silk, a former patient himself, whose plaque references Julie Arrazi, the first ever nurse funded by Cure Leukaemia who treated him. Other key supporters have donated their name, including Doug McKinnon, with the Latin words ‘Non desistas non exieris’ (‘Never give up, never surrender’). As well as support from Wolverhampton Wanderers players and staff, Wolves' fans are also in evidence amongst the plaques. Mick Goater and CL Champion Jess Hempshall have donated and travelled all the way from Yorkshire to appear in the photo. Jess said: “The charity saved the life of my friend Fiona so I was only too happy to donate. I really hope people fill the wall as soon as possible because these fantastic nurses are saving lives and it is great to play your part.”   Running shirt inspired the idea The idea for the wall of plaques came from running shirts Cure Leukaemia produced in 2016 which were covered with donated names and this was followed with a special Wolves shirt in support of Carl Ikeme and a Crystal Palace shirt in support of Geoff Thomas. Cure Leukaemia CEO James McLaughlin, who has himself donated a plaque said: “We saw how popular the Donate Your Name concept was with the shirts and we felt the model could also transfer to a wall at the Centre. Once this wall is filled it will fund one of our nurses and the hope is that it will remain full indefinitely and provide a form of regular donation for Cure Leukaemia.” There are 1,000 spaces for ‘Donate Your Name’ plaques, and three options for donating: A one-off donation of £150 for three years Three separate £50 donations totalling £150 spread over three years A £65 donation for one year, with the option to renew in 2020.   More on fundraising from donating names Comedian raises funds for cat charity with surreal cat name prints (5 February 2018) Social media users urged to donate their profile during Refugee Week (1 June 2009) Ian Rankin auctions thriller's character name for charity (28 December 2001)

from UK Fundraising http://bit.ly/2W70pGS