What We Do

Ensuring Little People have a better chance of becoming Big People

Every year nearly 200,000 children suffering from cancer and other serious illnesses in the North West and beyond receive treatment at the Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital.  For over thirty years this charity has been raising funds and providing the hospital with essential equipment and refurbishments.  To ensure that the children receive the best possible care it is vital that the hospital has access to the latest technology. 

The initial fund raising event took place at the Wallness Tavern in Salford back in 1976 and the fundraising hasn’t stopped since.  Our first major goals were a new renal unit, gamma camera and diagnostics imager followed later by a magnetic resonance imager, improvements to the cancer ward and the refurbishment of the Bone Marrow Unit.  Not to forget several vehicles to assist with the transportation of children, parents blood samples and records between Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital & Booth Hall Children’s Hospital (now classed as one unit but four miles apart).  Previous Chairmen have included Bryan Robson OBE and the late Frank (Foo Foo) Lammar, both having extensive and direct connections with the North West.

Our current project is named the Five Stars Scanner Appeal and aims to raise £1M for a new MRI scanner.  The existing scanner was provided by ourselves 13 years ago under the appeal name of The Bryan Robson Scanner Appeal.  Technology has since moved on and the new scanners are less frightening for the children.  The new equipment will cut the time of a standard scan from 45 minutes to 15 minutes and will aid doctors in diagnosing cancer and cancer related illnesses more quickly, enabling them to provide early treatment that will ultimately save children’s lives.

We have had the help of five celebrity Ambassadors fronting our Appeal – Max Beesley, Chris Bisson, Ryan Giggs OBE, Samia Smith, Richard O'Brien and Will Mellor who took over from Richard for a time. They each hosted a large fund raising event each year in addition to attending many others.  The Ambassadors are helped by lots of other celebrity Patrons who are enthusiastic and willing to lend their support.  They are generous with their time but also help us to keep the message fresh and in the public eye.  Some of these Patrons are Sir Alex Ferguson CBE, Take That and Her Majesty’s Royal Marines to name a few. 

Danielle Proudfoot became the Five Stars Scanner Appeal’s sixth ‘Little Star’ helping our other Ambassadors and providing the link between the charity and the hospital.  She was treated at the Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital for over two years and in 2006 lost her brave fight against cancer.  Her legacy lives on and she will continue to be our inspiration.

We now need to raise the remaining £250,000 to hit our £1million target by the autumn.

We have the skills and we have the support of a great many people but we need all the help we can find to reach the target sum and help make life better for many thousands of children and young people now and in the future.  With your help, we can make it happen.