Member Article

Last Chance to "trade up" for children's hospital

With seven days of the #Help4Humphrey campaign remaining, Shaping Cloud CEO, Carlos Oliveira, encourages local businesses to get trading by sharing how the Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital helped his family

Carlos Oliveira, founder and CEO of cloud-based software company, Shaping Cloud, has today [Friday 7th August] revealed the personal story behind the #Help4Humphrey social media campaign to raise money for The Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital Charity (RMCH Charity).

Carlos and his team launched the campaign, which aims to encourage North West businesses to “trade up” goods and services offered, with the final items being auctioned off at a later date for RMCH Charity.

Carlos’ support for the charity comes after both of his daughters, Rosa and Agnes, were born with haemangiomas – which are benign tumours more commonly known as strawberry birthmarks.

One in ten newborns are affected by the condition and many – like Rosa – experience no pain and the marks gradually disappear. However, when Agnes arrived Carlos noticed a small scratch on her eyelid.

“It was exactly the same way that Rosa’s had started, but it was so close to her eye that we were concerned about the effect it would have on her sight” Carlos explains, “so we took her straight to see the specialists at the RMCH.”

Carlos and the team RMCH monitored Agnes’ progress over the next two months, but it quickly became clear that her case was not as simple at Rosa’s and that her eyesight could be at risk of action was not taken.

It was a worrying time for the family, but the team at RMCH were swung into action and Agnes was quickly started on a treatment of Beta Blockers, which required Carlos to stay overnight at the hospital, while hospital staff checked there were no side effects.

Carlos said: “That night was a revelation. We met several other children with conditions far more serious than Agnes’s and also both witnessed and experienced the care provided by the staff at the RMCH.

“The bravery of the children going through painful illnesses and traumatic operations left me in awe, as did the dedication of the hospital and its staff.

“So much thought had gone into making the hospital environment comfortable, secure and fun – so its patients could still feel like children, despite what they were going through.”

Within six months of treatment, Agnes’ birthmark had all but disappeared and tests indicated that her sight was undamaged.

Carlos said: “Having first hand-experience of the hospital made me realise how lucky we are to have such an amazing facility here in the North West and how big a difference it makes.

“That’s why we set up the #Help4Humphrey campaign and why were are urging North West businesses to trade up our current top items.

“We’ve come a long way from just one blue and one red paperclip, with our top two items now being an Old Trafford Family Day Experience and SMS Audio Headset and a Cricket Shirt.

“We’re so grateful for all of the trades so far – but we want to go even bigger. We challenge businesses across the North West to get on board and support this incredible hospital, its team and its patients, by joining in the fun!”

Joel Oxberry, Corporate Fundraising Manager for Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital Charity added: “This is a great initiative that we are very excited about. Fundraising such as this helps us to ensure that Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital isn’t just the biggest children’s hospital but also the very best.

“We work to make life a little bit easier for patients and their families.”

Businesses have until 14th August to go to the #Help4Humphrey website http://help4humphrey.shapingcloud.com/ and make a trade. The top items will be auctioned off at a later date with all proceeds going to the RMCH Charity.

Keep up to date with the latest trades by following the Twitter hashtag, #Help4Humphrey, and join in the North West’s biggest game of swap!

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Nikki Girvan .