Nicola’s ‘Brave shave’ raises over £10,000 for QEHB Charity!

Today, the hospital charity met up with the amazing Nicola Riggs for a cheque presentation. Nicola was joined by the team from the Centre for Rare Diseases at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham. Nicola’s entire donation will greatly aid in the team’s research into Primary Hyperoxaluria.

Nicola managed to raise the astonishing total of £10,203.15 by shaving her hair off. Her inspiration to brave the shave came from her friend Sara’s son, Edward. Edward was taken to A&E when he was just three months old, as he had been suffering from sickness and diarrhoea for a substantial time.

Initially, doctors thought that his illness should clear up within a few days, as his blood tests had revealed nothing untoward. However, they decided to run tests on his urine, and realised that there was the tiniest amount of blood in it.
Almost immediately, they realised that Edward’s kidneys had failed, and his life needed saving. Little Edward has been in hospital ever since, and has undergone frequent surgery. Edward was diagnosed with Primary Hyperoxaluria, a rare condition characterised by the overproduction of a substance called oxalate, due to a deficiency of an enzyme in the liver.

Edward currently has to have dialysis for eighteen hours every day to try and remove as much of the oxalate as possible, as if it builds up in his body it will start to shut his organs down.

The Centre for Rare Diseases is based at QEHB, within the Institute of Translational Medicine which is dedicated to developing and implementing ground-breaking treatments, technologies and techniques to benefit patient care.
The team from the Centre for Rare Diseases all wanted to meet Nicola and personally thank her for fundraising such a substantial amount in aid of their vital research into such a niche field. Dr Graham Lipkin, Consultant Nephrologist at QEHB greatly expressed his gratitude and explained to Nicola exactly how impactful this donation will be from a medical perspective.

The team are hoping to find a way to produce an injectable substance that could replace the enzyme which would mean that patients like Edward wouldn’t have to receive a liver transplant.

When asked how she managed to raise such an incredible amount, Nicola modestly said: “I just have very generous friends that helped and supported me."

If you would like to read more about the centre for rare diseases please visit: https://www.hospitalcharity.org/centreforrarediseases

To donate to Nicola’s JustGiving page, please visit: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/nicolas-head-shave