Category Archives: Blog
The INSPIRE Foundation Blog
Challenge Mt Kilimanjaro…he did it!
Former UEA tetraplegic hopes to be first to scale Kilimanjaro
In September, INSPIRE Patron, Max Levene is aiming to be the highest level spinal injured person to climb Mount Kilimanjaro and will be raising funds to support INSPIRE alongside other charities with which he has close connections.
He did it!
Yes indeed, Max and the team crested Mount Kilimanjaro in mid-September, after a long and tortuous climb in his adapted wheelchair. I spoke to Max on Sunday 13th October and he told me that he very nearly gave up, as all the shaking and jarring was severely affecting his body. The guide gave him a pep talk, made him have a power nap and then forced him to scoff a whole Mars bar and off they went to the summit.
I cannot tell you, dear readers, just how big the challenge was for Max and how grateful we are that he persevered. He has amassed close to £10,000 for us with his various money raising events, as well as with this epic challenge. Money is continuing to pour in to his Just Giving page and the link is here for you to share the love: go fund me
The whole challenge was filmed and Max is hoping to make a documentary of the 96 hours he spent getting to the top of the mountain. Here he is at the airport, with all he needed for the climb (with his Mum and his helper):
Speedyprint run for INSPIRE
Speedyprint run for INSPIRE
Michael Considine did it too! Not one but two fundraisers for INSPIRE in the last month, the second being Michael, who ran the Clarendon marathon, from Salisbury to Winchester, bringing us both publicity and much needed funds. Michael works for Speedyprint in Salisbury and was gently cajoled by the Stephen Croft into running for INSPIRE, as he is a top flight and very keen runner. He is an absolute hero, shown in the photo at the start of the race with someone who was encouraging but not participating
Michael started running after his weight hit 20 stone, and now he can’t stop. Thank you, Michael! His JustGiving page is here for all your donations:
INSPIRE’s Director: Stephen Croft BSc(Hons) MBA
Stephen Croft: Director, The INSPIRE Foundation
Stephen was a Royal Signals officer in the British Army for 29 years, serving overseas for 27 of them. He was a military diplomat and linguist, having been a British Liaison Officer with the French Armed Forces for 5 years, the UK’s Military Attaché to Poland and the UK’s Defence Attaché to Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH). Stephen has also enjoyed two United Nations (UN) tours, one in BiH in the very early part of the war there and one in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) as the Senior Military Adviser to the Commander of UN Forces in the DRC.
On leaving the Army, Stephen went to work in the UK’s defence industry. He has spent the last 11 years in sales operations and business development for British companies manufacturing world leading microwave equipment. He was most recently Head of Sales and Business Development for a company that exports its helicopter datalink systems to more than 50 countries worldwide, mainly for use by their border forces and police services.
Technology and its use to benefit people has always been important to Stephen, as a piece of well developed and well designed equipment can help alleviate mundane tasks, often doing so more efficiently and more quickly than a human being. Machinery does not have to be complex, but it does have to be easy to use and make life better for the user. This is why Stephen’s industrial career was spent with products designed for efficient, easy use.
Stephen is based in Salisbury with his wife Jean, a freelance translator. He sought a new, very different challenge and saw the role of Director at INSPIRE as a way to make best use of his desire to make life better for people, using technology to do so. The current and planned projects at INSPIRE are both inspiring and useful for those with SCI, coming directly from the needs expressed by the SCI user or recipient. Stephen has a son who is very profoundly autistic, so he has personal empathy with the disabled and how we can work to make their lives better and more enjoyable. He hopes some of these skills may be transferrable to SCI research.
Stephen is very much looking forward to meeting the disparate members of the INSPIRE Community, especially the SCI users, the scientists assessing and working on projects, the Trustees and INSPIRE’S Patrons. He intends to listen and learn, continuing to lead INSPIRE on its journey to help all those with SCI wherever they may be in the country.
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Patron Baroness Masham of Ilton DL 14 April 1935 – 12 March 2023
Susan Cunliffe-Lister, Dowager Countess of Swinton, DSG, DL, Baroness Masham of Ilton.
Lady Masham (Sue) was made a life peer in 1970 and was the longest serving female member of the House of Lords. She suffered a spinal cord injury racing at Catterick Point to Point in 1958 and after rehabilitation became a champion for the disabled as well as a successful Paralympian. She was staunch supporter of many disabled charities and was invited to join INSPIRE as our senior Patron in June 2014. She is photographed with co-Patrons, The Lady Amherst and Sir Paul Newton at a House of Lords Reception in 2015 during which we celebrated her 80th birthday. Lady Masham died peacefully in hospital on Sunday 12th March. God bless you Sue and RIP.
Dr Sean Doherty awarded the Newman Fellowship
Dr Sean Doherty awarded the Newman Fellowship
Congratulations to Research Scientist Dr Sean Doherty, winner of the INSPIRE Foundation PhD Scholarship 2016 who has been awarded the coveted Newman Fellowship. Sean who completed his doctorate in September 2019 is part of the research team at University College London, working on an INSPIRE funded project called NEUROMOD II.
The Frances and Augustus Newman Foundation supports medical and research projects and other medically related charitable endeavours. We approached the foundation last autumn for funding towards our research programme and specifically towards project NEUROMOD II.
Part of our appeal included details about Research Assistant, Sean who broke his neck falling from his mountain bike as a 16 year old schoolboy. During 12 months rehabilitation at Stoke Mandeville, he had to come to terms not only with considerable physical and psychological challenges, but also the onset of his impending A levels! Through admirable determination and a steely resolve, he achieved commendable grades which enabled him to go to Cardiff University where he read Medical Engineering and was awarded both his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees.
House of Lords March 2017 Presentation of the INSPIRE Foundation PhD Scholarship; Patron Baroness Masham of Ilton DL, who broke her back in 1958 & Sean Doherty, who broke his neck in 2009
Sean subsequently won the INSPIRE’s PhD Scholarship created in memory of Major General Ralph Crossley, one time Chairman of the Trustees who championed medical research after spinal cord injury. Sean’s Scholarship was presented by INSPIRE Patron, Baroness Masham of Ilton at a ceremony at the House of Lords in March 2017.
His 3 year thesis at the London Spinal Cord Injury Centre, Stanmore so impressed INSPIRE’s Board of Trustees that they agreed to fund a new project NEUROMOD II. Based at University College London and costing £225,278, the research focus is on the use of electrical stimulation as a means to control abdominal nerves. Despite paralysis, lost bladder and bowel control is consistently ranked by people living with spinal cord injury as a top research priority. Resulting issues with incontinence have been repeatedly linked with significant decreases in quality-of-life. Through his lived experience of spinal cord injury and the time he has spent consulting others, Sean understands this and is highly motivated to provide new solutions.
September 2019: Shortly after receiving notification of his PhD, Dr Sean Doherty catches up with Dr Lynsey Duffell, Principal Investigator Project NEUROMOD II at UCL
Under the Direction of Dr Lynsey Duffell, Senior Lecturer in Medical Physics at University College London, NEUROMOD II is one of INSPIRE’s ten current projects costing a total of £1.6 million. With no Government or NHS funding available to our programme, we are delighted that Sean and his vital research project have been generously recognised with a grant of £22,000 by the Frances & Augustus Newman Foundation.
Click for further details of INSPIRE’s Current Research programme.
INSPIRE funded scientist gains regulatory approval for mechanical ventilation after spinal cord injury.
Congratulations to Dr Henrik Gollee for this major breakthrough!
Obtaining regulatory approval for a new stimulator is a major achievement and a just reward after many years devoted research. Henrik is currently the Principal Investigator on an INSPIRE funded project called ‘Abdominal FES’ at the Queen Elizabeth University Teaching Hospital in Glasgow. Click to: Read more about Henrik’s Achievement work and Professional background