The Standard Issue 4 2023
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CHARITY CHAMPIONS<br />
BY SOO BARTHOLOMEW<br />
MBICSc<br />
Generous guests attending the<br />
BICSc Awards are always incredibly<br />
supportive of the Chairman’s Charity<br />
fundraiser and this year’s event raised<br />
the most money ever!<br />
At this year’s awards event a total of<br />
£2,060 was raised for <strong>The</strong> Chairman’s<br />
Charity Prize Draw which for the first<br />
time was in aid of Guy’s & St Thomas’<br />
Kidney Patients’ Association, a cause<br />
very close to the heart of BICSc new<br />
chair Soo Bartholomew.<br />
Soo wanted to help shine a spotlight<br />
on the amazing work of the association<br />
which has helped her and her family<br />
after her youngest daughter Claire<br />
was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes<br />
when she was just eight-years-old and<br />
was insulin dependent.<br />
Soo explained: “During her teens<br />
Claire began to have problems<br />
controlling her blood sugars,<br />
which eventually led to numerous<br />
complications because it is such a<br />
horrible disease and it resulted in her<br />
kidneys failing in late 2018 which<br />
meant she had to go onto dialysis<br />
in early 2019. She was put onto<br />
the transplant list at the same time<br />
because she was only 30-years-old<br />
at that time and she wanted to have<br />
some sort of life going forward.<br />
“It was very tough for the next three<br />
years. We had to move house and she<br />
had to move back in with us, she lost<br />
her job and was unable to work and<br />
because of other health complications,<br />
including osteoporosis, which is also<br />
another byproduct of being diabetic,<br />
she broke her pelvis in three places<br />
and had a stroke.<br />
“Fortunately after numerous tests<br />
we were able to get her back on<br />
the transplant list and she had her<br />
transplant in August of 2022. She had<br />
a double transplant, pancreas and<br />
kidney, so she is no longer diabetic,<br />
no longer has kidney failure and is<br />
no longer on dialysis. Unfortunately<br />
THE STANDARD<br />
because of all the other problems she<br />
had and because of the suspension of<br />
the transplant list during Covid, she<br />
still has lots of problems.<br />
“That aside, the fact that she no longer<br />
has to get up at 5am three mornings a<br />
week for us to take her to dialysis and<br />
she doesn’t have to spend half a day on<br />
dialysis is absolutely wonderful.”<br />
Soo explained the mental toll<br />
everything has taken on her daughter.<br />
“Going to sleep every night and<br />
wondering if you are going to wake<br />
up affects her mentally, it all has an<br />
impact. <strong>The</strong>re are lots of costs to<br />
also deal with and that’s where the<br />
patients association really helps.”<br />
“We are financially secure so didn’t<br />
have to call on the organisation to<br />
help in that respect, but there are a lot<br />
of people who aren’t and they need<br />
help. <strong>The</strong> money that was raised at the<br />
awards night will help patients get to<br />
the hospital and support their families<br />
while they are having their transplant.”<br />
<strong>The</strong> money raised will also help<br />
provide support for patients<br />
undergoing treatment and transplants<br />
in the hospital where there is a day<br />
room for patients’ families to await the<br />
outcome of their operations.<br />
Soo said: “It is a very worrying time<br />
when they disappear into the hands<br />
of a surgeon for 12 hours.”<br />
“I am a very strong person and<br />
I try to keep a positive outlook<br />
about things and if there is<br />
something that I can do I will.<br />
You have to look at these<br />
things positively and you<br />
have to always be optimistic<br />
that there will be a positive<br />
outcome at the end of<br />
the day."<br />
Janice Stephens, Treasurer, Guy’s & St<br />
Thomas’ Kidney Patients' Association<br />
said: “Thanks very much. This money<br />
will be used to support kidney patients<br />
at the hospital. We do this in various<br />
ways e.g. by supporting social events<br />
for dialysis patients, funding research<br />
projects, supporting attendance at the<br />
transplant games and promote organ<br />
donation.”<br />
Soo said: “It is the most ever raised<br />
at one of our events. Claire is also<br />
pleased about how much has been<br />
raised and she knows how this will<br />
help so many families.”<br />
Claire’s best friend is still on the<br />
waiting list and they are hoping she<br />
will have a transplant soon. Claire, Soo<br />
and family will be there to support her<br />
through everything.<br />
Soo added: “Her best friend calls me<br />
Mama Soo and Claire calls them twins<br />
as they have been through the same<br />
things together.”<br />
Next year Soo’s chosen charity will be<br />
Diabetes UK and she hopes during her<br />
tenure as chair that she can continue<br />
to “support these charities and help<br />
them in any small way because at the<br />
end of the day it is a pebble<br />
in the pond”.<br />
SOO BARTHOLOMEW<br />
National Chairman