The UK Sepsis Trust inaugural Ball

This week I would like to talk about something not directly linked to the world of bridging finance, although I am very proud to say that the two subjects are now linked, for all the right reasons. This week I want to talk about Sepsis.

Last Friday, 320 people gathered from the mortgage and bridging industry, television and medical profession at the Waldorf Hilton Hotel. This perhaps unusual mixed audience gathered together to raise awareness and money for The UK Sepsis Trust, at their inaugural Ball.  The event was hosted by ITV News anchor Mark Austin and was extremely well supported by the mortgage and bridging industry’s finest, with kind support and sponsorship from Capital Private Finance, Capital Bridging, Finance 4 Business, Front Events, Barcadia Media, Intrinsic, SPF, Precise Mortgages, Shawbrook, KRBS, Medianett, MAB, Mortgage Introducer, Mortgage Strategy, Omni Capital and MT Finance, (apologies to anyone I missed).

There were also a number of celebrities in attendance including Gary & Danielle Lineker, Piers Morgan, Natasha Kaplinsky, Mark Austin, Cold Feet’s Fay Ripley and TV doctors, Dr Hilary, and Dr Ranj Singh (to name but a few). For me, the highlights of the evening were the introductory speech given by CEO, world expert and Founder of the UK Sepsis Trust, Ron Daniels, (https://sepsistrust.org/meet-the-team/sepsis-uk-core-team/ron-daniels)  and the heartfelt story told by Clare Jupp about how she became involved with the Trust.

All charity is for a good cause, but the Sepsis UK Trust is something that through tragic circumstances, is very dear to the hearts of Rob and Clare Jupp and the whole of the Brightstar family. Clare’s elder sister Kay Dejan suddenly and tragically died on 13th May 2011, after attending hospital for what should have been a fairly routine and low risk operation to her knee. Within a couple of days of leaving hospital after the operation, Kay became very ill after later died in hospital. You can read more about Kay’s story here.

Until this point, like many others, I did not know anything about Sepsis and for those who did not attend the ball on Friday night, please let me explain a little about this potentially life threatening illness.

The following facts were taken from the UK Sepsis Trust website, which is attributed to them.

Sepsis is the current term for septicaemia, or blood poisoning. The disease kills over eight million people worldwide each year - more people than AIDs, prostate and breast cancer combined - and recent data shows that sepsis claims even more lives globally than tobacco does.

In the UK, it’s estimated that we see 102,000 cases of severe sepsis every year, with a staggering 37,000 deaths. Most cases of sepsis are due to infections we are all familiar with: like pneumonia, urinary tract infections and bites, cuts or stings.

The good news? As with so much, the simple things are the most effective. Awareness is number one. Raising recognition of the disease and increasing the number of patients treated in the ‘Golden Hour’ is the single most effective thing we can do to save lives.

We aim to raise £50,000 through this event, which will enable us to provide educational resources for every health care professional in the UK, establish support networks in every region and kick start a public awareness campaign.

As you can see, the aim of the evening was not only to raise much needed cash for this small and until now, relatively unknown charity, but just as importantly to raise awareness of Sepsis and hopefully save some lives in the future. It is not too late to make a donation to UK Sepsis Trust and anyone wishing to do so, can click here.

In their words, “Let’s mend Sepsis”

Thank you.