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Fundraising
Ta-da! Since January, we have raised another £38,000 to add to the Crohn's MAP Vaccine diagnostic test fund, making our latest total of £281,000. This does not yet include the impressive total raised by Annabelle's gala (funds will be transferred from the US in July). This just shows how wonderfully the campaign is progressing. But there is still almost £189,000 to be raised before we can take our collective foot off the gas. Here are a few examples of what our Heroes have been up to! If you are inspired to sign up to do some fundraising for us, it's easy :- Click here!
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Recent Events
Our Heroes have been super-busy recently! Owyn George, age 10, who has Crohn's and his friend Finn Wallace, also 10, ran the mile 'Dragon Dash' children's race as part of the Anglesey Half Marathon on Sunday 6th March. Wearing their Crohn's MAP Vaccine t-shirts, the race took them across the Menai Suspension Bridge and into the town of Menai Bridge. They raised £920 between them for the Crohn's MAP Vaccine. Thank you, boys, that was an amazing feat!
Check out Lisa's JustGiving page here!
Karen Millard had the second of two coffee mornings and £145 was raised online from friends who could not attend as they were working or lived too far away. £56 was donated by people who came round for coffee and pastries . She says she is looking forward to organising the next one which will be a Pimms O'Clock garden party when the weather gets a bit better. In between Karen is planning a book sale and donut sale. We're exhausted just reading about all that! Thank you, Karen.
Check out Karen's JustGiving page here!
Staunch supporter, Helen Varney, did yet another craft market in Crickhowell on 2nd April, raising £400. We can't thank you enough, Helen!
Check out Helen's JustGiving page here!
"I ran 8 miles! Major run through rivers and swinging through trees, great fun and raised money too. Next is coast to coast... for Crohn's MAP Vaccine." - Kerry Ann Walton.
Check out Kerry's JustGiving page here!
Some of our heroes hide their light under a bushel (or maybe its an invisibility cloak). Craig Arden ran the Reading half marathon on 3rd April – and we didn't know until afterwards! Thank you Craig!
Check out Craig's JustGiving page here!
And let’s not forget Annabelle Hall’s hugely successful Mardi Gras Gala in Orinda, California.
A fabulous evening was had by all, with wine tasting, dinner prepared by a French chef, live and silent auctions and dancing to live music. There were some fantastic auction items (a two bedroom apartment overlooking the Mediterranean in Spain!) and Annabelle’s intrepid partners-in-fundraising , Christine and Dina, threw themselves into the event to help raise funds for the diagnostic test. The video made by Professor Hermon-Taylor especially for the event, and shown to an attentive audience, is here. Please click the link to view:- www.crohnsmapvaccine.com/mardi-gras-gala-lafayette-california/ Since then, Annabelle has taken her CMV banner all over her home state and been pictured spreading the word. Here she is in Hollywood!
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Upcoming Events
There are so many events planned. We are sorry if we have left any out of this list, its hard to keep track sometimes! If you live or are planning to be passing anywhere near these venues, please do go and cheer on our Heroes.
April 17th– Phil Broad's Brighton Marathon https://www.justgiving.com/Phil-Broad2016
May 19-21st brings Valerie Joly's four day Fight for the Cure event. Golf tournament, tennis-a-thon, dinner, silent auction and raffle! If you are in Denver, US, this could be one for you! https://www.facebook.com/events/578429305668830/
May 22nd Zach Mill's Velothon (cycling event) in South Wales. https://www.justgiving.com/Zach-Velothon-MEN9150
May 22nd - Western Australia's Jane Coffey HBF Run for a Reason' https://www.justgiving.com/Jane-Coffey-MEN9150
4th June - James Robertson's cycle ride from Sutton Coldfield to Skipton:- https://www.justgiving.com/oatbake-MEN9150
James' Blog: http://skipdale.blogspot.co.uk/
Jamess Fb page: https://www.facebook.com/jamescrohnsmapvaccine2016/?fref=photo
June 5th – Serkan Yusuf's Dragon Ride through the Brecon Beacons:- https://www.justgiving.com/Serkan-Yusuf-MEN9150
Terrie William's summer ball in Warwickshire: https://www.justgiving.com/crohns-map-vaccine-MEN9150. More details to follow.
20th August: Simon Haakerson's Flare Up festival. More details coming soon!
A small reminder for all new Heroes. Please add the MEN9150 suffix to your Just Giving web address. We have noticed a few URLs without this code lately. Unfortunately, unless this code is added on, your hard earned money will go into the general Kings College account and not direct to the Crohns MAP Vaccine. Its not too late if you have already set it up without the MEN9150. Simply contact the Just Giving support team and they will sort it out for you and make sure every penny goes where you need it to. Thanks, everyone!
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Fundraising total
We're getting closer all the time to the end! We'll be there soon and it's all thanks to the brilliant effort of our fundraisers, keep it up!
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Research Update
The Vaccine
We are excited to announce that The Jenner Institute, Oxford have completed GMP manufacture of the first component of the Vaccine, with sufficient Vaccine produced to complete Phase I and Phase IIa trials. The second component of the Vaccine is in GMP manufacture at IDT in Germany and work is progressing well.
A Phase I trial in healthy human volunteers is expected to begin in Oxford in Sept this year. Recruitment of healthy volunteers has not yet begun but anyone who is interested in taking part can register with Oxford Vaccine Centres Healthy Volunteers database here to receive regular updates. Participants in the Phase I trial need to be:
- A healthy person aged 18-50 years old.
- A UK resident living within striking distance of Oxford.
- Willing to make a time commitment of 5-10 morning visits to the Jenner Institute over a 6 month period.
A Phase II trial in 20 patients with Crohn's disease is expected to begin in the first quarter of 2017. This trial is not yet open for recruitment. If you would like to receive updates on this trial, please subscribe to our newsletter here.
Funding for Phase II trials is still being sought; HAV Vaccines Ltd closed their first round of investments on 31.01.2016 having successfully raised £1.5 million to fund the Vaccine manufacture and Phase I trials through to completion. The second round of investment is now open and HVL are seeking a further £1.15 million to fund the Phase IIa trial. Any individuals or companies interested in investing in HVL should contact their Corporate Director, Michael Stallibrass: stalli@hav-vaccines.com
The new MAP test
The clinical phase of Testing the test continues, with our Heroes - those folks who give their time and money to raise funds for the MAP test and vaccine – coming from far and wide for a blood test to find out whether they are infected with MAP. Over the next few months, testing will begin on individuals hospitalised with severe Crohn's disease as well as healthy controls.
Prof Hermon-Taylor is hopeful that the team will be in a position to publish the findings from this work later this year.
We are very grateful to The GP Surgery for allowing the researchers the use of their excellent facilities for blood testing.
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Useful links
If anyone would like more detail about the fundraising structure of this project, please click here.
For our scientific ‘Core Literature pack’ please click here.
To find out how to become a hero click here.
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