A Special Appeal from Richard (Taff) Hale
 

Folks,

One of the very few perks available to a PPRuNe Moderator is to be able to support and endorse limited numbers of charity appeals on the site, usually restricted to the Forum you moderate.

With that in mind, I'd like to provide support, and ask for yours, for the family of one of our recently retired ATC colleagues. Richard (Taff) Hale was an Assistant Air Traffic Controller, firstly with the RAF (including tours in RAF Germany), and then with NATS at Scottish Centre, before finally retiring from Prestwick Centre in late 2011. Those who know Taff will be aware that he is a larger than life character, who is also extremely loud :} , but above all was a supportive and loyal colleague, as well as a good friend, to all those who worked with him.

Like all Grandfathers, Taff dotes on his grand daughter, Vanessa, aged 11.

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When she was 8, in Feb 2009, Vanessa was diagnosed with Stage 4 (High-Risk) Neuroblastoma, a very rare, aggressive and difficult to treat form of childhood cancer. Fewer than 100 children in the UK are diagnosed with neuroblastoma each year, most of whom are below the age of 5 and generally have a better prognosis because the older the child is, the worse the prognosis will be.

Since Feb 09, Vanessa has undergone many different treatments at Yorkhill Hospital in Glasgow, including 12 rounds (YES - TWELVE!!) of High Dose Chemotherapy, two 7 hour surgical operations, the removal of one of her kidneys, a stem cell transplant, Radiotherapy, Retinoic Acid treatment and Immunotherapy treatment……all of which was agonising to watch for her parents and family, never mind to have to endure as a child!

Having undergone all this difficult and often very painful treatment the fact remained that due to a high relapse rate with this disease, the long term prognosis for Vanessa's survival remained very poor with a less than a 40% survival rate. All the same, Vanessa finished her treatment at Yorkhill Hospital in Aug 2010 and was shortly afterwards given the 'all clear' by the medical experts. Brilliant news, until .......

In Dec 2011 after routine scans, her parents were given the devastating news that Vanessa had relapsed. She has many hotspots which have developed on the skull, neck, spine, leg, & knees. The UK doctors have told the family that this time round there is very little chance of survival; “much less than 10%” they said, as we do not have any relapse protocols in the UK. This is due to the UK Government not investing any money into relapse treatments for this disease. This is a very different story to the United States where there are many relapse protocols.

By taking Vanessa there, there is hope that treatment can dramatically increase her chances of long term survival. Taff and his family are now in the position of urgently having to take Vanessa to the United States for this relapse therapy treatment which the NHS will not fund. The treatment Vanessa requires is likely to involve Antibody Therapy and will cost in excess of £500,000. Vanessa’s latest scan results will be used to determine which therapy is best and this is likely to happen at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.

Which is where you come in and can help.

Please help us to raise the funds in order to save Vanessa’s life.

You can help by donating money, no matter the size of the donation. There are several methods of doing this detailed below at the end.

If you work for NATS, you could consider donating your next overtime or voluntary attendance shift money to the Appeal. Or make a one off donation from your pay. The great thing about these donations is that the Appeal will get the money PLUS the tax you would have paid on the money earned IMMEDIATELY. The mechanism for this is being set up through the Give As You Earn Scheme and as soon as it is in place, I will post the details for NATS staff who wish to contribute in this way.

You could also consider donating something for an auction or raffle. Various events are to be held over the coming months where we will use these generous gifts to help boost the fund. Already an extremely kind and generous ATCO has donated a boxing glove signed by 10 times world champion Manny Pacquiao, as well as signed football shirts from Christiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi. What a great collection for any sports fan !!

Or raise some funds on your own however you see fit. Sponsored events like parachute jumps or walks. It's up to you :)

If you wish to donate, then in the UK you can donate by text message by texting VANY99 and your amount from £1 - £10 to text number 70070. For example, to donate £5, simply text VANY99 5 Or you can donate through the Justgiving Website Vanessa Riddle Appeal where you can read more about the little girl and see what has been done so far for the fund. If you are a UK taxpayer, then by selecting Gift Aid with your donation, you will also force the taxman to give Vanessa your hard earned tax on the amount. Help Vanessa and screw the taxman. Win - Win !! :E

Please, EVERY single penny counts, no matter how little. The Appeal and Vanessa really mean that, and are grateful beyond words for anything you can do.

Thank you for reading and donating.

Thank you for being a PPRuNer with a big big heart !! :D

Richard (Taff) Hale and 10W

http://www.justgiving.com/Utils/imag...505d31d1c8.jpg

And especially a BIG BIG THANK YOU from Vanessa XX

Perishing dustmite allergy seems to have affected my eyes again. :{
Use your Modding powers and make this a sticky 10W.
This disease is probably the worst diagnosis you could ever receive for your child and the older the child at diagnosis the worse the prognosis. I don't usually mention if I make a contribution to anything but I'm making an exception this time. I'm not ATC staff, just a PPL who has had the benefit of their existence and skills.

You can see Vanessa on the news clip

STV News 13 Jan 2012

Unfortunately you will have to endure the adverts at the beginning, but bear with us :ok:

Donation
 

Donation completed and I hope you reach your total, also be good if people put the link on their Face-book pages

NM

Same here & best wishes!

I know how gutted Taff will have been by the latest news and I also know that Taff has a huge heart and would do whatever it took to support me if I were in his position. Vanessa is incredible- what a happy child, which speaks volumes of her parents and grandparents. All the best (and I'll gladly contribute).

It's not the most intellectual of newspapers available in Scotland, but fair play to the Daily Record who have put this on their front page today :ok:

Daily Record Vanessa Story

Done, with very best wishes to Vanessa and her family, and I truly hope the power of the internet will help them overcome this terrible desease.

Kev.

Righto..... don't think you Poms are the only ones with hearts,Love and money for a good cause. How do us Stralians donate?
Mid last year my Cheeze and Kisses was diagnosed with Jack the dancer, thankfully after the surgeon,chemo,radio she has the all clear.
Let me know the appropriate channels and I ( and hopefully many others from down here) will donate.

Ooroo

G'day Greenslopes,

thanks for your kind support and help. If you go to the JustGiving page below, you can pay by credit card or through PayPal. The minimum amount is £2 so bear in mind the exchange rate when the Oz Dollars come off your account :ok:

Vanessa Appeal

Any problems, just holler.

Onya !! :)

Successfully donated via PayPal (with GiftAid)

Done - Good luck from a Fighter Controller.

SA

Attempted.
Unfortunately the site authenticates the donation using a "verified by visa" protocol (in my case) run by mycardsecure.

Get the password wrong just once, it invalidates further transactions.

Unable. I'll try again after the bank opens tomorrow.

Might be worth mentioning to the charity that although this is a fairly good security check, it's damn cumbersome. I can't use a different credit card, such as Amex.

All the best.

Any way we can get it stickied on the pilots , rumours and news and other bits of the site 10W?? :ok:

Donation completed - All The Very Best, PFR:)

Donated.


Thoughts and prayers to all involved.

Donated

If you can send me an address i have a couple of items you can use for an auction. I have a Cricket Bat signed by the Northampton County Squad and a Rugby Ball signed by the Saracens Squad that might raise a couple of quid.

Donated!
 

Nobody can fail to be humbled by this young lady's courage.

Father of two, blessed thank God with two healthy kids, dontation made, and all the very best of luck.

Tried to donate using Paypal, but Norton Internet Security blocked the page which should appear after clicking the Paypal logo on the donation page. Came up with a very strong warning not to attempt to open the link. Don't know what the problem is, because others appear to have used Paypal successfully. Donation eventually made by credit card, but although it wanted 'Verification by Visa' it failed to ask for my password and went straight on to complete the transaction. If this was an internet shopping site I would have thought 'Dodgy', and disconnected immediately for fear of all sorts of malware, phishing and identity theft.

Anyway, the money seems to have got through to the right people, so can I send my best wishes to a very brave little girl and her family.

CM