QVC and Honora Pearls to support the CF Trust

On Wednesday 22nd December, the shopping channel QVC will be supporting the Cystic Fibrosis Trust.

Their first ever ‘QVC Cares Day’ will feature a selection of top brands who have chosen to support their favourite charities throughout the day and we are thrilled that Honora Pearls are supporting the Cystic Fibrosis Trust.

This is a great opportunity for that bit of last minute Christmas shopping as well as finding out more about our charity work with regular short film clips showing throughout the day. The days’ event will include a standard programming schedule with airtime allocated for the promotion of our charity as well as the opportunity to link on-air sales with an opportunity to donate also.

‘Honora Pearls’ will feature a wonderful range of jewellery products throughout the day and is generously donating 15% of the purchase price to the Cystic Fibrosis Trust.

Find out more on the QVC website

Happy shopping!

Climb every mountain

Everyone has a mental list of things they'd love to do one day and climbing Mount Kilimanjaro is probably top of the list for a lot of people.

Kilimanjaro is the highest freestanding mountain in the world and also the highest mountain on the African continent at 5,896m. Its snow-capped summit rises high above the dusty African plains with huge permanent glaciers flow down from the summit Uhuru Peak.

Sounds amazing doesn't it?

A group of fundraisers recently took on this challenge for us and did a great montage of photos and video from their trip which you can check out on You Tube. If you're inspired to find out more have a look at our website.

Sam completes amazing challenge

Well done to Sam Tomson and team who cycled 1,000 miles from Calais to Barcelona raising over £5,500 for the Cystic Fibrosis Trust.

28 year old Sam, who has CF, cycled with his friends James Cathcart and Mike Tourle and his dad Colin. His mum Lynne drove the route to provide back-up and carry all his medication.

You can find out more and sponsor the team at www.justgiving.com/calbar2010

Well done Allison!

A HUGE congratulations to the lovely Dr Allison John who won a Pride of Britain award this week. Allison is a real inspiration to the CF community, as despite having all her major organs transplanted, she still fulfilled her dream to become a doctor, qualifying this year.

CF Trust awards new research grants

The Cystic Fibrosis Trust has awarded £188,000 to four new research projects aimed at benefiting those with Cystic Fibrosis (CF).

Dr Eshwar Mahenthiralingam and his team at the Cardiff School of Biosciences, Cardiff University have been awarded £45,000 to investigate a bacterial infection called Burkholderia multivorans that causes lung damage, a reduction in lung function and a shortened life expectancy for those with Cystic Fibrosis.

Scientists at Queen’s University, Belfast led by Dr Lorraine Martin have received £50,000 for a research project aimed at investigating dehydration in the lungs of people with Cystic Fibrosis.

Professor Bob Ford at The University of Manchester has been awarded £75,000 for a project aimed at studying the activity of the CFTR protein by understanding how it is built and how it works. CFTR (Cystic Fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator) is the protein that controls the movement of chloride through the lining of the cells. It is the faulty CFTR that causes the problems in Cystic Fibrosis by not working at all, or not working enough.

A grant has been awarded to scientists at the University of Exeter led by Dr Alan Brown to investigate the relationship between patients who have Cystic Fibrosis-related diabetes, and a particular lung infection called Burkholderia cepacia. This research was funded by the University of Exeter's 2009 studentship campaign in conjunction with an £18,000 research grant from the Cystic Fibrosis Trust.

These four new projects will be running alongside the other research currently funded by the CF Trust into areas such as gene therapy, early detection of lung disease in infants, transplantation, depression in people with CF, inflammation and drug treatments.

From Essex to Paris by bike!

Congratulations to Robert Lee from Rainham, Essex who cycled from Dagenham to Paris raising over £600 for the CF Trust.

Rob originally intended to cycle around the battlefield of The Somme, but after a colleague at work threw him the challenge to cycle to Notre Dame in Paris he accepted the challenge in aid of the Cystic Fibrosis Trust.

His 250 mile journey took a total of 6 days and 13 hours. To prepare for the ride he trained in the local area cycling as far as Southend and back to Rainham.

Well done Robert and thank you!!

Jodie takes on the Kielder Marathon

Congratulations to Jodie Symington, who has CF and took part in the first ever Kielder Marathon around Europe's largest man-made lake in the heart of Northumberland. Here she is with Steve Cram, organiser of the event. Jodie is hanging up her running shoes after taking part in lots of runs for us over the past few years including the very tough Everest Marathon.

Well done Jodie and thank you!