BiB Reach £1000 Charity Target for ASBAH
BiB have reached their £1000 target for thank a charity that supported an employees son's serious medical condition.
BiB's efforts raised £1,000 for the Association for Spina Bifida and Hydrocephalus (ASBAH) which will go towards running a national helpline.
Tracey O’Neill is a member of the BiB Charity Team and helped to organise a series of charity events among staff. Tracey's son Joshua suffered a brain haemorrhage when he was born which left him fitting and needing urgent medical treatment.
A month later he was diagnosed with hydrocephalus, a condition which leads to excessive fluid on the brain.
Over the next 18 months he under went three operations to fit shunts, devices which drain away the excess fluid that can damage the brain.
Now eight, Joshua leads a near normal life in Darlington and Tracey felt it was time to do something for the charity that supported her through difficult times, so she suggested ASBAH as a good cause to help.
“BiB does a lot for charity and our staff are very generous when it comes to helping worthy causes. A national ASBAH helpline is a really great idea because we got little support once we had left hospital,” she said.
“We came across ASBAH by accident and got a great deal of information and support from them. It was a very worrying time and Joshua was very ill so we wish we had known about them earlier.”
ASBAH corporate relations officer Shelly Bullard said there were 26,000 people on the shunt register aged from two-days-old to pensioners.
The charity had a network of advisors who could help parents from the moment problems were detected on a scan, to the birth, childhood and adulthood.
She said there had been an amazing response to the new helpline – 0845 4507755 – with all manner of inquiries.
“We rely entirely on voluntary donations so this is fantastic,” she said. “We are not a very big charity so this amount is a big deal for us.”
BiB staff are also raising money for the Heart of Darlington Appeal and plan to raise more for the Nystagmus Network through activities including book sales, dressing down days, treasure hunts, selling snacks and auctioning memorabilia.
