Harrison’s Fund Raises £236,000 Towards Financing Research of Muscular Dystrophy

Cobham charity Harrison’s Fund has donated £236,000 to help pay for key staff posts in hospital wards across the UK working to eradicate Duchenne muscular dystrophy.

The donation caps a busy 2015 for the fund, which has seen co-founder Alex Smith complete a unique Ironman triathlon in Denmark after landing a prestigious national award.

Harrison’s Fund was set up in 2011 by Cobham couple Alex and Donna Smith after their son Harrison, now nine, was diagnosed with Duchenne, a fatal neuromuscular condition that results in progressive muscle weakness.

The charity raises funds to finance research into the disease, investigate treatments and potentially find a cure.

Reflecting on 2015, Alex, 40, said: “It’s been our busiest year ever by a country mile, in many different ways.

“We’ve raised just shy of half a million pounds – up around 25% on the previous year, which is amazing.

“And we’ve been incredibly busy locally, hosting our first Christmas carol concert, which will be an annual event, and Blue Hair Day in Epsom .”

The £236,000 donation forms part of a £1.2million fund from eight organisations, and will pay for 16 clinical posts at Great Ormond Street Hospital in London; The John Walton Muscular Dystrophy Research Centre at Newcastle University; and Alder Hey Children’s Hospital in Liverpool.

Read more at the source.