Cooking event sees Brock students team-up with British Army to raise £450 for organ donation causes
5 March 2018
Fundraising drive followed renal transplant for Brock student Robyn Coleshill who underwent surgery on her 18th birthday.
Brockenhurst College students joined forces with British Army caterers recently, raising £450 to support Southampton Children’s Hospital through a daytime cooking event that also raised organ donation awareness.
The Hospitality students worked alongside the 167 Catering Support Regiment to cook a selection of hot lunches, plus chocolate brownies, which they sold to students and staff from an army-style field kitchen.
Among the cooks was Robyn Coleshill from Southampton, who received a kidney transplant last October on her 18th birthday.
Some of the £450 raised will now go towards specialist training for nurses working on the kidney unit at Southampton Children’s Hospital, where Robyn has been treated since birth.
Meanwhile, another chunk of the cash will help fund other children with kidney transplants from Southampton to attend the British Transplant Games in Birmingham this August.
A group of staff from the transplant team at Southampton Children’s Hospital also attended the event, dubbed ‘Cooking for a Cause’, to provide information about the NHS Organ Donation Register.
After completing her tasks, Robyn said: “I used to feel really tired all the time, but since I’ve had the transplant I have a lot more energy and I’m feeling really good.
“It was the best 18th birthday present I could have asked for,” she added.
Sarah Grylls, Clinical Nurse Specialist in Paediatric Nephrology at Southampton Children’s Hospital, said: “There are very few children’s kidney units across the UK.
“In fact, there are only 13 units like ours, and accessing education specific to what we do is really difficult and expensive, which is why we’re very grateful to Brockenhurst College for running this event.”
According to NHS figures, approximately three people die each day in the UK while waiting for a suitable organ, and around 100 children are currently waiting for a kidney.
To sign up for Organ donation please visit:
www.organdonation.nhs.uk/register-to-donate
Any further donation can be sent to Sarah Grylls via the Southampton Hospital Charity at Southampton Children’s Hospital, Tremona Road, SO16 6YD
Photo copyright: ©redManhattan
