Chris Timmins & Family

On behalf of SSEN Ridgeway Region, we are setting this page up for our colleague, but most importantly, our friend, Chris and his Family.

Now before I go on, I just want to say a thank you for visiting this page. I know that there are a lot of funding requests of late, and plenty of worthy causes, but this one really does mean a lot to us, and we really want to try and help Chris and Bekah during the tough time they are facing as a family.

Chris and his partner Bekah welcomed their beautiful baby girl, Lena, last July and have been enjoying the wonderful life changes that having a child brings ever since. Sadly however, in June of this year, just before her 1st birthday, Lena was diagnosed with the incredibly rare metabolic condition called MPS1, or Hurler Syndrome. MPS1 is an inherited genetic condition that affects approximately 1 in 200,000 new-borns in Europe and stands for mucopolysaccharide disease.

Mucopolysaccharides are long chains of sugar molecules used to build bones, cartilage, skin, tendons and other tissues in the body and Lena is missing an enzyme that does the important job of breaking them down. The symptoms of this disease are very wide ranging and affect every part of the body.

It’s not all bad news… Lena was amazingly lucky to have been matched through the Anthony Nolan transplant service with a bone marrow donor and received a transplant earlier on this month. Chris and Bekah are hopeful and so thankful to the donor, but there is a long road ahead with lots of treatment and long hospital stays for Lena. It is an incredibly tough, stressful and worrying time for the family with a long road ahead filled with many obstacles, but both Chris and Bekah are navigating the new world of treatment ahead of them with enormous amounts of strength and courage.

Here is where you can help.

The treatment stays are long, and the couple are facing months away from home. This means neither Chris nor Bekah can work as they need to stay close to the hospital, which in turn, means a significantly lower income coming into the household. Chris has taken a leave of absence from work on top of not being able to carry out the standby duties that amounts to a large increase on top of his ordinary salary. Ultimately, with the long-term care required going forward, the financial strain on the couple is looming and we want to try and help them out by reducing that stress in any way that we can so they can focus all their time and attention on their daughter.

We are appealing to you. If you can give anything to this couple, no matter how big or small, I know how much it would be appreciated. Even if you can’t contribute money at this time, a share of this page with your friends and family would mean the world to us, and them. The money will go into the couple’s bank account so they can immediately use the funds towards household bills and the costs that come with staying away from home.

Thank you again from me.

Update: Due to the generosity of Chris' colleagues, the target has been amended to reflect this. Thank you to everyone that have donated so far!