Ways to Donate
Donate Online
An online service through which you donate - click on the Donate logo found at the bottom of this page and it will take you directly to our donate page.
Donate by Post
If you wish to donate by cheque, please make your donations payable to Somerset Community Foundation with Elliot's Touch written on the back of the cheque and post to this address:
Yeoman House
The Royal Bath and West Showground
Shepton Mallet
Somerset
BA4 6QN
Donate by Bank Transfer
Reference: Elliot's Touch
Account Name: Somerset Community Foundation
Account Number: 75002426
Sort Code: 60-23-06
(Natwest)
Where do your donations go?
Message from Royal Brompton & Harefield Hospitals Charity
​
On the 12th July 2016, we were humbled to meet Paul and Donna, who sadly lost their infant son Elliot to mitochondrial disease and childhood cardiomyopathy last year at Great Ormond Street Hospital. Ever since their tragic loss, Paul and Donna and the team at Elliot’s Touch have bravely and tirelessly raised funds towards research into the condition, so that in future, children can be given a stronger fighting chance at life.
After doing some of their own research, Paul and Donna came across the Royal Brompton Hospital’s very own Dr Sanjay Prasad, an expert in cardiomyopathy. With his fantastic team, Dr Prasad is working towards finding a simple and effective way to test for cardiomyopathy, so that children and adults with this condition can be diagnosed and treated earlier, or even avoid the need for medical intervention.
​
Elliot’s Touch were able to meet with Dr Prasad and his team, learn more about their vital work, and, through their ambitious and truly remarkable fundraising efforts, present a generous cheque for £36,000 to help further the team’s work.
Dr Prasad said of the meeting and donation: “We are very mindful of the journey Elliot’s Touch have been through and how much toil has gone into raising funds – physically and emotionally. We will bear this responsibility by doing the best work we can.
“Our goal is very simple – to embody Elliot’s inspiration and determination to stop any other child suffering in the way he did. ‘That he gave of his today so that they may have their tomorrow.’”
​
You can read more about our inspiring meeting on our website: http://bit.ly/29HvbgP
Bristol Children's Hosptial
The Bristol Royal Hospital for Children (BRHC) provides a local service for Bristol children and a referral service for specialist care for families across the South West and nationally.
Bristol Royal Hospital for Children is one of the largest children’s
hospitals in England, bringing together all specialist
children’s services under one roof.
With strong links to the University of Bristol and University of West of England we are the major medical research centre in the region. The findings allow us to continually improve our patient care.
Our academic links also make us the largest centre for medical training in the South West, attracting the highest calibre clinical staff from across the UK.
Mitochondrial Disease Research
Professor Shamima Rahman is an expert in the Mitochondrial Disease research field and is carrying out various pieces of research to understand Mitochondrial Disease and find ways to treat and ultimately cure children with this condition.
A particular research project that Professor Rahman has been heading up is “Genetic metabolic diseases – understanding of the molecular genetic basis of mitochondrial diseases”.
The principal aims of this research are to obtain a more complete understanding of the molecular genetic basis and natural history of mitochondrial diseases. By studying the mechanisms leading to disease in patients with mitochondrial or nuclear gene mutations that cause mitochondrial dysfunction, Professor Rahman and her team can begin to develop more effective treatments. Until the genetic basis and pathological mechanisms are understood which underlie these devastating multisystem disorders which are currently incurable, Professor Rahman and her team cannot hope to find effective treatments.
Great Ormond Street Hosptial
Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) and the Institute of Child Health (ICH) are world leaders in the development of a life-saving technique called gene therapy.
Thanks to dramatic advances in our understanding of human genetics, we can now pinpoint many of the faulty genes that are responsible for particular childhood diseases. This has opened up the potential for a lifesaving technique called ‘gene therapy’ – the precise insertion of a working gene into a patient’s DNA to replace or correct a faulty, disease-causing gene.
By resolving the root cause of genetic diseases, gene therapy offers the prospect of effective and lasting treatment for children with conditions that were previously difficult or even impossible to manage.